Smells Like Teen Spirit
by livingtothefullest
Summary: Elouise, the new girl in town with a dark past, befriends Tate and Violet, but doesn't realize how deep and dark both of their intertwined pasts are. Tate and Violet aren't the only ones with secrets to be learned. (Dark Themes)
1. Moving In

**Hello friends! So this is my first AHS fanfic and I hope you like it as much as I like to write it. So I just wanted to add a little note for everyone just as a little FYI... So "dark themes" are... well a theme in the world of AHS. The first season especially deals with some touchy subject matter with teenagers especially I believe and I will be discussing Tate's background (his family, what he did at the school, and all that), Violet's background (well, he self harming habits and her suicide) and Elouise (who is similar to Violet... And she has a background story that might be hard for some people). So I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Thank you so much for clicking on my story! It means a lot!  
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A new house was a scary thing for anyone to come into, but when your parents insist on moving you to an old time Victorian Era house that, when I did my research, was top priority on the haunted house tour, yeah it was pretty fucked up. I reluctantly climbed the stairs behind my parents who were both smiling. My dad had gotten a new job which had forced us to move, but my parents had wanted to move down to Los Angeles for a couple years now. We walked inside and I looked around as my mom gushed over the wallpaper and how there was still furniture left inside. "It looks so vintage!" She squealed, holding onto my dad's arm tightly.

"I wonder why no one was buying it..." My dad muttered and looked around. "It was so cheap and it's perfect."

"Except for the fact that it's on the haunted house tours," I said and rolled my eyes while typing into my phone.

"Oh hush, be more rational than that Elouise," mom said and smiled. "There's no such things as ghosts or 'haunted houses' and what not. People just say that for a way to bring in more business for... Well whatever kind of business they're running."

"Whatever you say but if I hear one unexplained noise in this house, I'm checking into a hotel," I said immediately and shook my head some. "Why would someone leave their furniture here?"

"Either they didn't want it or couldn't take it with them," dad explained as he started to walk deeper into the house.

Yeah... That was the reason. They were probably scared away from the house and didn't bother to bring their stuff with them.

"Oh! Ellie!" Mom shouted from the top of the stairs. "There's a room up here that you could turn into a studio for your art if you wanted to!"

I smiled some and went up the stairs to look around. As creepy as the house was, it was pretty cool at the same time. I trekked along the second floor, looking into each of the rooms. They all had furniture in them still. There were two bedrooms a bathroom and then the extra room mom was telling me about. There was a door that led to the attic, but I didn't really want to see what was up there anytime soon or ever really. I walked down the stairs, looking around the kitchen and the foyer when I saw something from the corner of my eye. I looked, but nothing was there. The hair on the back of my neck began to stand up and there was a sudden chill in the room. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked around some more before quickly rushing to where dad was looking at the office.

"You okay? You look a little shaken," he observed as I walked into the room.

"Fine... I'm fine," I muttered and sighed. "This office is really nice."

He smiled and nodded. "Yup it's perfect for when I want to work from home."

I nodded and smiled up at him. "I'm going to go and get the rest of my things out of the car."

"Okay, come get me if you need any help."

I walked back through the front of the house, glancing around some, and then out and onto the lawn. The light warmed my skin again and I went over to the driveway where the car was and reached in grabbing my last bag, my purse, and my laptop. "You're new," someone said.

I whipped around and there was a girl, about my age, standing there looking at me. "Y-Yeah? I am. Who are you and what are you doing on my lawn?" I asked.

She just shrugged and leaned against the car. "I live close by and I saw you and your parents unpacking. Thought I'd give you a little... Neighborly welcome," she said, giving a very fake smile.

"Well, uh, thanks..." I said and tried to walk past her.

She stepped in front of me. "I'm Violet."

"Elouise." Again, I tried to get around her but she stepped in front of me.

"I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Oh will we? Sneaking onto my lawn is going to make us friends?"

She pursed her lips before cracking a small smile. "I like you."

"Okay, well I've got to get this to my room."

I finally walked past her and as I walked through the door she called, "Watch out for Tate!"

I looked back to ask who or what that was and she was already gone.

A few days had past since we had moved in. I was in my room and sitting on my laptop. There was nothing interesting going on in the world at that moment. All I knew was that I was bored. I had no one to hang out with because all my friends were back in Oregon and I didn't start school until Monday. I sighed softly and closed my laptop, staring up at the ceiling before I stood and walked into what was now my studio. I had tarp along the floor and two easels as well as a stack of sketch pads, boxes filled with paints and other art supplies, and a couch with a couple throw pillows. I sighed and turned around and that's when I saw a boy standing in the door way. "Hi," he said with a small smile.

"H-Hi?" I said and backed up some.

"Is this all of your stuff?" He asked and I nodded. "So you're an artist?"

"What made you guess?" I asked shakily looking for something to defend myself with if I needed to. "Can I ask... Who the hell are you?"

"Oh, sorry... Your dad got a call and I got curious so I started to look around," he shrugged.

"You're one of dad's clients?" I asked and he nodded.

It didn't make me feel too much calmer. Dad dealt with teens and children who had anger issues, eating disorders, or maybe even a mental illness. He was basically a psychiatrist but he didn't like people calling him that. "I'm Tate," He said and smiled some.

"Tate?" I asked. Violet's words rung back and forth in my head.

"Yeah..." He said and pushed himself off the doorway. "Can I look at some of your art work?"

"Uh... Sure?" I said and he walked over to my sketchbooks and sat down, flipping through the one on the top of the pile.

"You're great," he said. I chewed on my lip and sat down, running a hand through my hair. "Are you okay?"

"Fine it's just... Are people just like this around here?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He questioned back, stilling looking through my sketchbooks.

"I mean, you just pop up and start talking to people? A girl did that earlier today," I muttered.

"What girl?" He asked again.

"Violet I think her name was. She said she lived close by and-"

"Oh, she lives close alright," he said with a small smirk which fell rather quickly before he put down the sketch book rather roughly. "I better get downstairs..." All expression had left his face except for what seemed like anger. I nodded some and he stopped in the doorway and turned to look at me. "Don't listen to Violet. Whatever she says about me, she's lying," he said, his fists clenching. I tilted my head in confusion and bit my lip lightly before he turned, leaving me alone again in the room.

Tate was the one that Violet had warned me about, telling me to watch out. Was it because of whatever he was seeing dad for? What was he seeing him for? Why did Violet care? Questions ping ponged back and forth in my head as I sat there. I sighed softly and then stood, walking out of my room, looking for something and anything to do. I went down to the kitchen and mom was there mixing something in a bowl. There was another lady sitting at the table and they were laughing about something. When I walked in, mom smiled at me. "Ellie! This is, Mrs. Harmon," she said as she set the bowl down and wiped her hands that were covered with flour on a dish towel.

"Oh please, call me Vivien," she said, smiling as she stood and reached out a hand. I walked over and shook it gingerly.

Mom smiled and looked back at me. "Vivien and her family live close by and she wanted to come over and welcome us to the neighborhood," she said to me. "Vivien, do you want something else to drink?"

"I'm fine really," she said. "You're about my daughter's age, Ellie." She smiled sweetly at me, looking at me with a soft and somber expression before smiling again. "Well, I should probably get going."

"Already?" Mom asked. "Do you want to stay for dinner? You can ask your husband and your daughter even!"

"Mom..." I muttered. She was always overly nice with everyone.

"Oh hush, Elouise!" She smiled and giggled before looking back at Vivien. "It'll be nice to have some company around since the only people we've had over really are Sean's patients."

"Oh, I know how you feel. My husband is in the same line of work," Vivien said and smiled some again. "I'm sure Ben and Violet would love to come over. What time do you think?"

"Violet?" I asked and raised my eyebrows.

"Yeah, that's my daughter's name," she said and nodded.

"Oh," I said and nodded a bit.

Vivien smiled and then looked to my mom again. "I'll go and tell them to get ready and we'll be over around five. Thank you so much, Anne."

"Oh, you're welcome!" Mom said and started to pour whatever was in the bowl into a pan.

Vivien left through the back door and I looked to mom with raised eyebrows. "I've already met Violet," I said.

"What?" Mom asked and smiled as she placed the bowl in the sink.

"She showed up on our lawn the day that we moved in and she was… strange… I don't know. Maybe I'm just not used to California people yet. The people I've met so far just seem very… friendly. Almost overly friendly."

"Who have you met so far?"

"Well there was Violet and then one of dad's patients came up the stairs and we talked a bit. His name was Tate and then Vivien. I don't know…" I shrugged, leaning on the counter and picking a grape out of a bowl that was sitting there.

"Well, I'm sure they're all just very nice people, Ellie," she said and smiled.

There was a door that shut and dad's voice bounced off the walls. "Okay, Tate, come back tomorrow and we'll continue our session."

There was no answer except a front door opening and closing. Dad walked in and raised his eyebrows. "I think I have a patient that will be sticking around for a while…" Dad said as he leaned on the counter with me eating grapes as well.

"Is he bad?" I asked and looked up at him.

He shrugged. "He just… has a dark way of thinking. It's like he doesn't see any light in the world…" he answered somberly. "But, that's why I'm here. I'm going to help him see whatever light he can grasp."

I smiled and leaned into my dad some with a soft sigh. I loved that he loved his job and he loved helping people with whatever they needed help with. "Elouise, will you set the table?" Mom asked. "Sean, I invited some neighbors over for dinner."

"Oh, that's nice," Dad said and took a few more grapes as he stood up straighter and walked around to see what mom was cooking.

I went and set the table for six people and sat down, playing on my phone. The doorbell rang then and dad went to get it. "Hi! You must be the Harmon's my wife was telling me about," he said as he closed the door. I sat up some and put my phone away in my pocket looking into the foyer. Mom ushered me up and into the hall to meet the family. Vivien walked in holding onto her husband's arm. Violet stood off a bit with her arms crossed. She looked around the house solemnly and her eyes landed on me. She smiled some and nodded her head.

"Hello! You must be Ben! Vivien was telling me all about you today! And Violet! You are the spitting image of your parents!" Mom gushed.

Violet pursed her lips some and said a short "thank you" before walking towards me. "Elouise. I told you we'd see a lot of each other," Violet said.

I shrugged some and smiled a bit at her. "Yeah, it seems like it, because our parents seem to be becoming fast friends," I told her and nodded towards them.

"Oh yeah," she said and rolled her eyes. "My parents are well… they went through a lot, but they decided to start over and be nicer people. They sometimes take it to the extreme, though."

"That's my parents all the time," I muttered.

Violet smiled and nodded. My parents walked us into the kitchen and we sat down at the table. Violet and I sat across from each other and our parents did all the talking. It was mainly the normal small talk. How I was going to school at Westfield and about my art. They talked about Violet's homeschooling and how bright she was. Violet didn't look up as they talked about her. "You know about the history of this house don't you?" Vivien asked as mom sat back down from putting the dishes in the sink.

"What?" Mom questioned, tilting her head some.

"What's happened in this house…" She said. "It's cursed, you know."

"What do you mean?" Dad asked looking at Vivien as if she was crazy.

"Well, there are a lot of bad things that have happened in this house. I couldn't believe that someone had actually bought it considering the last couple of incidents that had happened…" Vivien continued.

"Like what? The realtor did tell us a couple a things. Two young guys who were living together had died here, but she didn't go into much depth," Mom explained.

"Well…" Vivien leaned in some. "This house is known as the murder house. There have been countless murders and suicides. The most recent was of a family that lived here before you back in 2011. They moved here because the wife and husband were having issues so they packed themselves and their daughter up and moved here." She looked down at her hands and smiled some. "They thought it was the absolute perfect house… But weird things started happening and things that they thought would be looking up started to go awry. The daughter killed herself… The mother died… and then the father was the last to die…"

"That's-That's horrible…" Mom muttered.

Violet slammed down her fork and stood up, walking out of the room. "Violet!" Ben called, but she didn't answer.

"Maybe… Maybe I could talk to her," I said and stood up.

"It's just a touchy subject for Violet…" Vivien explained as I walked out of the room.

I walked around the house and I found her in the living room. She was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over her chest and a firm line on her face. Her eyes were glassy and she looked like she was trying to keep herself from crying. "Violet?" I asked stepping into the room.

She jumped and sat up straighter, looking back at me. "Sorry… I just… I hate talking about that… It just makes me remember…" She trailed off and shook her head. "My-My friend…"

"You were friends with the girl?" I questioned and sat down on the couch next her.

"Um… Yeah. You could say we both had the, huh, same outlook on life…" She muttered and looked down at her hands.

"You…" I started, but trailed off, not knowing if she wanted to talk about it. I placed a hand on my own arm and sighed heavily.

Violet noticed and bit down on her lip before pulling up her sleeve, showing all of her scars. She swallowed thickly and took a shaky breath. "Me and… Vanessa… we would sit and just talk about our issues and everything. When she offed herself, I didn't really talk to anyone…" She looked down at my arm and reached out, pulling up my sleeve as well. "I didn't take you for that type of person. These are pretty fresh too…" She touched the scars along my arm and I quickly pulled down my sleeve.

"I-I have my own issues…" I muttered. "I just hide it well."

Violet nodded and pulled down her sleeve. "I hid that part too… For a while… And then I met—" She cut herself off and pursed her lips.

"What?" I asked and scooted closer. I never talked to anyone about this stuff and it was nice to finally open up.

"Nothing… Maybe we can talk later… I have to get home. Even though I'm homeschooled, I still have homework to get done…" She said quickly and stood.

"On a Saturday?" I asked.

"Yes," she said shortly.

"Oh… Okay…" I muttered and stood with her.

She walked out of the room and her parents were already in the hallway saying good bye to mine. They left and that's when my mind started to bounce around again and I started to think of why she was so closed off after I asked her about who? Who had she met? Was it this Vanessa girl who killed herself in this house? Or was it someone else? By her reaction… I was thinking the second option.  
>_<p>

**Alright, had to get some exposition out of the way. That's going to be the first couple chapters before we start diving more into Elouise's life and how her relationships will be with Tate and Violet. So, I hope you liked this first chapter. I know I'm going all the way back to season 1 but the first is the best and it rings true for me. I love the characters (especially Tate) and the story. Thank you for reading everyone! **

**xxKellyn **


	2. They Say He's Trouble

**Next chapter yay! **

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><p>Getting out of bed is the hardest thing on the planet, but even more so when you're mom loves to open the blinds and curtains to wake you up in the morning. I pulled the comforter over my head and groaned as she did. "Come on Ellie. Breakfast is ready! It's going to get cold! We have to finish unpacking today and I was thinking that the two of us could go school supply shopping since we didn't really bring much with us other than the necessities," she rambled on and then walked over, pulling the covers off of me.<p>

"Mom…" I whined and tried to pull them back up. "Can't I just have five more minutes?"

"Five more minutes? That's two hours in your time, Ellie. Come on! Up, up, up!" She said. "Anyways, a lady came by this morning and she's cleaning up the house. Her name is Moira and she said that she's been the maid here for a long time. So come on get up. She'll want to clean your room."

"I can clean my own room," I retorted.

"I told her we could clean our own house, but she insisted that she stayed…" Mom shrugged.

She walked out of the room and I stood up, going to get dressed. I pulled on a sweater and some leggings and found my favorite pair of boots before layering my wrists with my bracelets. Mom had asked me before why I wore so many bracelets and I just said that "each of them held a memory" not wanting her to get suspicious. Anyways, it wasn't a complete lie. Many were from concerts, from my friends before I left, and then some were gifts from my parents or other family members back home for special occasions like Christmas or birthdays. I walked down the stairs and sat on one of the stools that were at the island and started to eat some of the pancakes that were on the plate. A lady with red hair who looked very old and was in a maid's outfit passed through and she glanced in my direction. "Are you Moira?" I asked after swallowing a bite of pancake.

"Yes. And you must be the daughter. Elouise, correct? How did your parents come up with that name? It's old fashioned," she stated.

"Oh, it was my grandmother's name," I answered, taking another bite of food. "Thank you for cleaning our house."

"No need for thanks. There's nothing more that I can do anymore really."

I nodded and continued eating as dad walked in and grabbed a plate, leaning against the counter by the sink and eating. "Sleep well last night, Ellie?" He asked me.

"Yep," I said and smiled. "Is there any coffee left in the pot?"

"Uh…" He set his plate down and checked. "Yeah, probably about two cups worth." He picked his plate up and began eating again.

"Good, I'm going to need it. Mom wants to finish unpacking and go shopping for school supplies…" I sighed softly and took my last bite of food.

"Yeah, she was telling me about it. Don't worry, she'll let you alone once you start school up. Are you excited?" He asked jokingly.

"For school?" I laughed. "As excited as any teenage girl could be about starting school in a whole new place…"

"Oh, you'll be fine. You always do great," he said and smiled at me encouragingly.

Yeah… Great, dad. That's why I do what I do and I'm the way that I am. See, my parents see me as a perfect child. I put on that act for them so they don't worry about me too much. It's not like I go out and party or anything. It's the exact opposite actually. I had my friends back home in Oregon, but I was always the odd one out. My parents were always strict about grades and what not, so school was always my main focus. It caused ruts in my relationships, but school had been important to me. That was until I got my first F and I flipped out. I got more into art and more creative stuff. I still kept pretty good grades, I didn't need to try all that hard, but school didn't mean as much as it had. I started procrastinating more and more. That was around the same time that my two best friends were killed in a freak accident. They had been driving down an icy road and they slid into some trees, completely totaling the car. I was supposed to be with them that night. I was going to be driving too because I had been driving the longest and it was just logical, but I had a paper due the next day and—

"Ellie, you okay?" Dad asked.

I was snapped out of my train of thought and I looked up at him. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just, uh, zoned out…" I said softly.

"Okay," he said and looked at me a minute before eating the last bit of his breakfast. "I have a little request, Ellie."

"What's that?" I stood and took my plate to the sink and looked at him.

"Tate, you remember my patient from yesterday? He has an appointment at four this afternoon, but I don't get out of the office until about 4:30. I tried my best to get off, but I can't. Do you think that you could keep him company until I got home? I know that it's kind of a lot to ask, but I wouldn't be able to fit him in any other time," he explained before putting his plate in the sink as well.

"Uh… sure…" I said.

"Just be careful around him okay? Like I said, he's a very dark thinker, but I feel as if there is something there that I can use to get him out of that mindset. Maybe you could help. Just… be careful with what you say and if he gets violent, call me and I'll be home right away."

"You're making me nervous…" I muttered.

"Sorry, I'm just giving you a heads up, okay?" He said.

"Okay," I said.

He smiled and kissed my forehead before fixing his tie. "I'll see you later then, Ellie. I love you."

"Love you too, dad. Bye!"

He grabbed his case from a chair and walked out the door. I took a few calming breaths and rubbed my wrists some before standing up straighter and walking out to find mom. She was in the dining room which was filled with a bunch of boxes at the moment. I started to help her unpack and smiled at her some.

We worked for probably two hours on unpacking before we were finally down to one box. I decided to take up the task because the doorbell rang. Mom answered and I peeked in. A lady who looked maybe in her mid to late sixties stood there with a small smile on her face. "Hello, you must be the new owner of this fine house, hm?" She said.

"Yes, isn't it a beautiful house? I absolutely adore it!" Mom gushed about how much she loved the house once again.

"Oh, yes, yes. Sorry, I'm forgetting my manners. My name is Constance. I live right next door." She stepped inside and mom looked at her as she glanced around the house. "I've lived next door to this beautiful house for quite a while now…" She smiled again and looked to the floor before looking back to mom. "So, how are you liking it so far. Have you heard any 'bumps in the night?'"

"Oh, no. We don't believe in any of that," mom reassured.

"Oh, well you should, honey, because they say if you don't, spirits get restless thinking that they can do whatever they want because you people will always find a logical explanation…"

"Well, there usually is and if not, well, things can't just go 'bump in the night' as you put it, unless there's a reason."

Constance laughed a bit and nodded. "I'm sure you'll come across a ghoul sooner or late or, hell! You probably already have!" She clasped her hands together and mom didn't look like she was enjoying the conversation much, but plastered a smile on her face anyways. "Well, honey, if you or your family ever need anything at all, I'm just right next door."

"Okay, thank you very much…"

"Constance."

"Right, Constance. Thank you," mom said and smiled.

Constance took one last look around the house and when she caught me listening in she gave a small smile and nod in my direction before turning and walking out. Mom looked at me and walked back in with raised eyebrows. "You might be right about these Californians. They all seem just a bit to friendly…" Mom sighed.

I laughed as I continued to unpack the last box.

Mom and I walked in the door. We had gone out and gotten a bite to eat at a small deli before going school supply shopping. We got everything that I was going to need, plus things that I probably would never even had thought of getting except for the fact that they were all on sale. I set the bags down and checked the clock. "Oh my gosh. Did we really shop for school supplies for three hours?" I asked. It was already quarter to four.

"Whoops! I guess time got away. But we did go into those couple of little boutiques for a bit and we contemplated whether or not to get some smoothies for a long time…" Mom muttered and then smiled at me.

"I have to go and wait for Tate. Dad wants me to keep him company while he's getting off work," I told her and started to walk towards the front door.

"He wants you to keep a patient company? Is that really a smart idea on his part?" She asked out loud.

I just shrugged my shoulders and went to sit on the front porch to wait for him. I was sitting on my phone, scrolling through Instagram, as per usual, and I saw pictures of my friends in front of school in dresses. Last night was homecoming. I wish we could have at least waited for homecoming to pass before moving to this town. It would have been nice, but I guess we can't always get what we want…

I sat there and when I looked up, Tate was standing there looking at me with the same expression he had come into my room with the other day, a small side smirk and a mischievous look in his eyes. I gave him a small smile back and stood. "Hey, dad isn't home from work yet and he asked me to keep you company," I said.

"Really?" He asked. "That's a surprise. Usually my doctors want me to stay away from their families."

I shrugged. "My dad is different and he thinks differently," I said.

"Hm…" Tate muttered and stepped closer. "So… we're supposed to just hang out?"

"Yep," I said and shrugged. "Do whatever."

"Can we go up to your studio?" He asked.

"Um… yeah sure," I said and gestured for him to go first. He walked past me and as he did, I caught that smirk on his face again and he looked at me from the corner of his eyes. I started to follow him in, but was stopped by someone grabbing my arm. I turned and Violet was there. "What are you doing Violet?"

"Stopping you. Don't go up there with him," she said sternly.

"Why?" I asked and furrowed my eyebrows. "He's not going to do anything. I've stuck around with my dad before while he was with a patient."

"Elouise, trust me," Violet said lowly.

"Violet, trust _me_. I can handle him… Why are you so against Tate?" I asked.

"Elouise! Are you coming?!" I heard Tate call.

"Yeah one second!" I called back. "Violet, I'll be fine…"

Violet pursed her lips together tightly and sighed before letting my arm go. "If you need anything, I know how to handle him," she said slowly. "You just… just call me. Run outside and call me. I'll hear."

"Violet, you're scaring me…" I muttered and furrowed my eyebrows. "Why are you afraid of him?"

"I'm not afraid of him. I have no reason to be anymore. I have my past and I have let him know how I feel and that I will never… never be that way again, but Elouise… Please…"

"Okay, I'll be okay, Violet. I promise, but we're going to have a talk about all of this…" I said and walked inside quickly. Where had she come from anyways?

Tate was standing in the hallway looking at me with a solemn expression on his face. "Was that Violet?" He asked. "What is she telling you, Elouise?" He asked.

"Nothing, Tate. It's okay. Let's go up to my studio, okay? We can hang out and listen to some music. What do you like?" I asked and started to walk up the stairs.

He grabbed my arm and tugged me back. I looked at him with wide eyes and my heart started to beat faster as I looked into his eyes. He looked lost and unsure. "What did she tell you?" He asked again. His voice lowered and his hand gripping my upper arms tighter.

I bit down on my lip. "Tate… Let's go upstairs and we can talk up there, okay?" I said trying to stay calm.

He looked at me, his lips pressing into a thin line, and he slowly let me go and looked down. He took my hand and started to pull me up the stairs. We went into my studio and he closed the door. "Whatever she's telling you… don't listen. That's not me anymore. I'm not like that anymore. I swear," he said and started to pace back and forth, running a hand through his hair.

I took a deep breath and walked over, grabbing his hand. "She just told me to be careful. Her dad is a doctor like my dad and—"

"Yeah, I know," he said sternly cutting me off. "He was my doctor once and… he was the best doctor I had. He was starting to help me… I didn't want to hurt people anymore." His last sentence made me suck in a breath and I swallowed thickly. "I started to think clearer and then… Then it all went to shit."

He turned away from me again and started to pace back and forth. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I was starting to get better, I wanted to be better for Violet. I did things, tried to do things, to make her life better. At first she accepted it and-and we were both happy. Very happy… I had other obligations too though, Elouise… And…" He shook his head.

"And what Tate?" I prompted.

He looked up at me, his eyes watery and red. The door to my room opened and my dad was standing in the doorway. "Tate… Elouise," he said.

I looked over at him and stepped away from Tate, looking down. "Hi, dad," I said.

"Tate, let's get to your session now, okay?" He said.

Tate didn't say a word as he led him out of the room. I looked up at Tate was glancing back at me. I sat down on the couch and threaded my fingers through my hair sighing heavily. What was Tate talking about? Were these other obligations the reason why Violet wanted me to be careful around him? And did Tate and Violet have a thing before? Why was I so confused? There were things going on that I wanted to know about.

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><p><strong>So both Violet and Tate are trying to make Elouise see their side but which will she choose if she chooses, hm? Well, we'll just have to see! Thank you so much for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	3. A Bad Start

**Hello friends! A new chapter! Yayayay! I hope you enjoy and just a little FYI, this chapter deals with a sensitive topic, just to let you know. **

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><p>A freedom less place where one is forced to know about shit that will never use in their lives. A prison. Whatever you want to call it, school sucks. I was driving, blasting the alternative rock station, and I sighed heavily as I pulled into the parking lot. Before getting out of the car, I took a few deep breaths and checked myself in the mirror. I hated making first impressions. I hated being the new girl. I just hated this whole situation at the moment. I climbed out of the car and ran into someone and I felt something hot spill over the front of my jacket. "Shit… Sorry…" I muttered.<p>

"Yeah you better be. That coffee was five dollars." Of course I run into the bitch.

"I said I was sorry," I said and looked at her, wiping off the coffee from the front of me some. "Oh, and sorry about your shoes."

She looked down and on her white vans there were splatters of coffee. I smiled and started to walk away, but she grabbed my arm and pulled me back. "You owe me five dollars. Cough it up," she spat.

"Um… what's the word I'm looking for…? Oh right! No," I rolled my eyes and tried to walk away, but she tugged me back again and slapped me.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She practically screamed.

"Me?!" I said back. "You're the one who's acting like a bitch when I just spilled your damn coffee now get the hell off of me!"

I pulled my arm away. "Leah, come on, you can get a new coffee," one of her followers said, tugging on her arm.

"Not without my five dollars. Now hand it over," she said.

"Sucks for you because unlike you probably are, I'm broke so stay the hell away from me," I said and walked away.

What a great way to start an already crappy day.

As the day dragged on, I felt more and more like an outcast. Maybe I was doing it to myself. I sat in the back corner of class and when a teacher introduced me, I'd wave awkwardly and quickly take my seat. I didn't make an effort to talk to anyone, but no one made an effort to talk to me either. I sat alone at lunch and ended up getting up and eating in the library. I asked the librarian, who was in a wheelchair, for permission to do so, and he smiled complying. I carried my bag of chips with me as I looked at the different things on the walls and all the books. I stopped when I saw a wall of plaques and went over to look at them. One in particular caught my eyes and I read the inscription: "In memory of our fallen brothers and sisters" followed by a list of names. There were fifteen. I looked at the librarian who was at the desk. He saw me and quickly looked back down at his work.

I walked over and threw away the bag. "What is that plaque from?" I asked softly.

"What plaque?" He asked.

"The plaque? It has the names of fifteen students on there. What happened?" I asked again. He just pursed his lips and continued what he was doing. "Was there an accident?"

"I don't like to talk about It," he muttered.

"Please? I'm sorry, I'm being nosey, but I'm new and I'm just curious…" I sighed.

He looked up at me and sighed. "Grab a chair."

The librarian told me about the day. There was a massacre and those fifteen students lost their lives and he lost his ability to walk ever again. He started to get choked up and I didn't feel like it was right to ask anymore questions and spare him having to tell me any gruesome details. The bell rang and I grabbed my things, heading to the first of my last few classes.

At the end of the day, I made sure to avoid that Leah chick and her "posse" at the cars, and quickly started to drive home. When I got home and I sighed in relief and walked inside. "How was your first day?" Mom asked immediately walking out of the kitchen.

I plastered a smile on my face. "Great!" I lied.

"Did you like your classes? Did you have any art today? Did you meet any new people?" She questioned in a rushed way.

"For the most part. Yeah I had painting. And not really…" I said and shrugged with a smile. "But it's only my first day, so I just have to settle." I added to reassure her.

"Oh good! I'm so happy you had a good day! What do you want for dinner? Pizza? I know that's your favorite," she said. "We can even order from somewhere instead of getting it from the store."

"That sounds great mom, thanks," I told her and walked up the stairs.

I walked into my room and shut the door. I began to pace back and forth in my room and clenched my fists. How long had it been since the last time…? I looked down at my wrists, moving my bracelets out of the way. Probably since the hour before we had drove down to California last week. I took a deep breath and rifled through my drawer and took out a small box, opening it up and looking at the small razor inside. I slowly took it out and put the box down, going to sit down on my bed and looking at the scars that already littered my wrist. I slowly pressed the razor to my skin and cut a horizontal line into it. I watched the blood bead out and I swallowed thickly. I did it again and hummed a bit watching it all go together.

"You do it too…" Someone said. I looked up at Tate who was standing in the doorway. I gasped and placed a hand over the cuts. "I scared you?"

"Surprised me," I said and stood. "Close the door. My dad isn't behind you is he?"

Tate shook his head and walked in doing so. "How long?" He asked.

"What?" I asked and looked at him.

"How long have you been cutting yourself like that?" He asked.

I shook my head. "A couple years…"

"What triggered it?" He asked and walked over to me, taking my arm and looking down at the two new cuts.

"I don't want to talk about it…" I muttered and pulled my arm away.

Tate looked at me and nodded. "I understand." I looked down at my wrist and sighed before covering the cuts up with bracelets again after the bleeding stopped some. I put the razor back in my drawer. "I can show you a better place to hide that."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "My parents don't go through my stuff."

"But if they're trying to help and maybe your mom puts away some of your clothes, she could stumble across it…"

I looked at the box as it sat in my drawer. I took it out and handed it to Tate how held it up a second before walking to my bed and putting it deep in between the mattresses on my bed. I swallowed and nodded some before sniffling a bit and sitting on my floor with my knees pulled to my chest. "Ellie?" He asked softly and walked over, sitting in front of me. "Hey… don't cry, please, don't cry…" He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and I squeezed my eyes shut as I continued to cry into his shoulder. Tate sighed and took a small breath.

Once I settled down, I looked up at Tate and sniffled as I scooted back some. "Sorry…" I muttered and took a deep breath as I wiped my eyes some.

"Your day at school wasn't as good as you were saying, hm?" He asked.

"How did you guess?" I asked.

"Just that… A guess. School sucks."

"And so do people."

Tate smirked and nodded some. "Yeah, definitely." He looked down at his hands and fiddled with his fingers before looking back up at me. "Do you listen to Nirvana?"

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><p><strong>So Elouise is taking some comfort it Tate. Heehee. How long do you think it will last? Hm... I hope you liked it and please reviewfavorite/follow because it gives me incentive to update more and quicker when I catch up with myself! Thank you so much for reading! **

**xxKellyn **


	4. Left in the Dark

**Another chapter this is kind of some filler, but parts will become more important as the story goes on! :) Every chapter has a reason! Enjoy! **

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><p>Tate and I sat in my studio talking and listening to Nirvana as well as other artists for the longest time. I told him about what actually happened at school and about back home in Oregon while sketching in one of my sketchbooks. He told me about his family especially his mom and how much he absolutely despised her, and would spend all of his time away from home, sleeping in other places. From what he told me, she didn't seem like a likable person.<p>

"What's up with you and Violet?" I asked nonchalantly, wanting to dig deeper into that relationship.

Tate pursed his lips together tightly and looked down at the ground. "Yeah… It's… complicated," he responded.

"Complicated… Well, we have time," I said. "Wait, are you supposed to have a session with my dad?"

Tate shook his head. "No…"

I suddenly had another thought come to mind. "Why are you here if you don't have a session today then?" I questioned again as I looked up from my drawing.

He pursed his lips and looked down at his hands. "I thought that you and I could just hang out. I waited for you to get home and then I stopped by."

"Not that my mom doesn't like you or any of my dad's other patients, but she's timid around you all… She wouldn't have let you in, let alone come up to my room without me knowing…"

"Can we talk about something else?"

"Like how you got into my house?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Trust me, you don't want to know, Elouise." He stood and turned to look out the window.

"Actually, I would Tate…" I said softly and bit my lip.

"You'll find it all out sooner or later, but I don't want to be the one to tell you. Can we please talk about something else?" He insisted.

"Fine…" I muttered. "Can we talk about the Violet thing then?"

Tate pursed his lips together. "I'd rather not," he said.

"You have to answer at least one of my questions, Tate. You can't avoid all of them…" I told him and crossed my arms over my chest.

"You and Violet are friends, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess we are," I said thinking about it some. She did kind of look out for me and I worried about her. We shared "the same view on life" as she had put her and Vanessa's friendship. She could very well be my first friend in California. Tate being the second.

"So, if I tell you about Violet and I… will it change anything between us?" He asked.

"Did you two date?" I asked bluntly.

Tate nodded some and looked down. "We did. Three years ago and we were very happy for a little bit. Then things started to have to change and I did things that I thought would help her out. I wanted to help her and her family and also help my friend, but I couldn't do everything without hurting people. I didn't like hurting anyone, but… I had to. I hurt Violet and her family. They don't like me anymore. I don't think her parents ever liked me though. I didn't mean to hurt them and for the longest time, I swore that I was going to wait for her and make sure that she was going to choose me one day, but she's made it clear that she doesn't feel the same way anymore. So, why should I let her move on and still feel attached to her? No, that's not what I want. I want to be happy, Elouise. I want to be happy again. It's a beautiful feeling…"

I swallowed some. "Tate, you can and will one day. You'll find someone, I promise."

"So, does it change anything between us? We can't be friends because I hurt her? Because we dated?" He asked and looked at me, his eyes going glassy again.

"No, Tate, that's not true, okay? I'm not like that. I'll tell Violet that I can be friends with the both of you. She'll understand… She has to," I told him with a soft smile.

He smiled a second before it fell, his calm and sad features suddenly looking enraged. "No! She won't Elouise! You don't understand! She'll never understand! That's just how she is!" He grabbed my arms tightly again and looked me in the eyes. "She'll never understand again."

"Tate…" I whispered. "Please…"

He looked at me before pushing me away and walking out of the studio. I stumbled back and when I caught my balance I called out, "Tate!" and followed after him. I didn't see him in the stairwell. There was a door that slammed and I quickly ran to the front, but he was already gone by the time that I got outside. I sighed heavily and plopped down on the front steps.

"Elouise? Is everything okay?" Mom came out and asked me.

I looked up at her and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine, Mom."

"Did I hear you call out for Tate?" She asked.

"Tate?" I laughed lightly. "No, you must be hearing things, mom. Do you need a hearing aid?" I joked with her.

"Oh, hush," She said and smiled at me. "I ordered the pizza. Dad will be home soon."

I stood and walked back inside with mom and we sat on the couch together, watching TV.

I laid in bed the next morning with mom and dad standing over me. "Are you sure you don't feel up to going to school today?" Mom asked me.

I fake coughed and nodded my head. "I'm sorry, mom, it's just… I forgot I left my window open last night and with it being the middle of October… I—" I fake coughed again. "I must have gotten a cold. I feel terrible…" Actually, I had gotten out of bed this morning, warmed my forehead with my heating pad, put on a foundation that was lighter than my skin, and laid back in bed, feigning sickness. I was a pro.

"Oh, honey…" Mom cooed and pushed the hair on my head back some. "I'm supposed to go job hunting today, but I guess I can stay home and—"

"No, no, mom," I said. "It's fine. You can go. I can-I can take care of myself. I'm seventeen."

"I don't know…" She trailed as dad placed the back of his hand on my forehead.

"You're pretty warm, where's the thermometer?" He asked.

I hid it in my drawer… "I don't know," mom responded. "We may have to go buy a new one."

"Do you want me to cancel my appointments or just hold them off for today?" Dad asked looking down at me.

"No, I can assure that I'll be fine. Moira will be here today won't she? If I need anything, I'll just ask her. I'm sure she'll know what to do." I smiled at my parents.

"Okay, I'll leave a note and let her know that you're not feeling good and you're staying home, okay?" I nodded as they walked out of the room.

I made sure the door was closed before I sat up and with a relieved sigh. I grabbed my phone and checked my nonexistent messages before setting it back down and sighing. I was not dealing with school today. I had too much on my mind as it was and I didn't want to risk running into the wicked coffee bitch in the parking lot again today. She'd probably whisk me away with her over dressed flying monkey posse to beat the shit out of me because, oh God! I got coffee on her vans that she could probably go and get with her daddy's credit card.

I heard the door open and close downstairs and footsteps coming up. I quickly tucked myself back into bed and pretended to be asleep. "She's not feeling too well, Violet. I don't want you to catch her cold," Mom said.

"Oh believe me. I'm like a ghost or a vampire or something. I never get sick," Violet said and the door to my room opened.

I opened my eyes some and looked at the door. "Oh, sorry honey, but Violet came by."

I smiled "weakly" and looked to the two of them. "It's fine. Hey, Vi…" I muttered and sat up slowly, playing up my sick act.

"Hey," she said. Mom left and she watched before looking back at me. "You're good."

I smiled. "I once missed a whole week of school because I pretended I had the flu."

"How did you pull that one off?" Violet asked and sat on my bed.

"I like to call it 5 am wake up call to concoct a disgusting combination of oatmeal, leftovers, and a bunch of nasty smelling stuff to make fake vomit."

She laughed and nodded. "So, how was yesterday with Tate?" She asked.

I pursed my lips together and shrugged. "Fine…"

"What did you two talk about?"

"A lot actually. He told me about his family and he has some mommy issues. And then… you two…" I muttered and bit my lip.

"What did he say about us?" She prompted.

"Just that you two used to date and that he was trying to help you but you didn't like the way he was trying to help you or something and… you two have been over for a while," I said with a shrug. "Nothing big, but I'm still… confused. What was he trying to help you with that you didn't like?"

Violet shook her head and sighed. "Tate is… He's messed up."

"Aren't we all?" I joked, but she just shook her head again.

"Seriously messed up, Elouise. I thought that he was such a nice guy. We'd sit in my room and listen to music and talk about our problems for hours. He kept things from me, things that I needed to know and that were scary and-and just downright wrong. He thought he was helping, but he wasn't helping anyone…"

"What did he do, Violet?"

"Are you friends with Tate?" She asked just like Tate had asked the day before. I nodded my head. "Do you want to stay friends with him?"

"Well, I mean, I told him we would be friends and that he didn't need to worry and that I'd talk to you, but—"

"Then I don't think I should tell you. I'll make sure to tell Tate to keep his head straight as much as he can, but if you want to be friends with him then I don't think that I should tell you what he did."

"But Violet—"

"If you still want to know after the next time you see him then talk to me, but… I'm not kidding when I say that you will be more afraid of him."

"I'm not afraid of him as it is, Violet."

"Well… then you will be."

We were quiet as I sat there thinking of all the possibilities. What could he have possibly done that was so terrible? Did he rob someone, beat someone, kill someone? What? Violet and I decided to go make some breakfast downstairs. Just some pancakes. Moira walked in and Violet smiled some at her and Moira back at her. "How are you doing Violet?" Moira asked as she wiped down the counters from our mess.

"Fine Moira, you? Long time no see huh?" Violet smirked as Moira smiled. I raised an eyebrow at the two of them and Violet noticed and continued to eat. "Moira was… Vicki's maid too," she said.

"Vicki?" I asked in confusion and Violet's eyes widened.

"I meant Vanessa…" She said looking down at her plate.

"Where did Vicki come from?" I asked sitting next to her.

She only shrugged and Moira looked at Violet. "Just a slip up, it happens," she said for her with a smile.

Violet looked at her with a grateful expression on her face. Violet and I sat in the kitchen for the most part and Moira promised not to rat me out to my parents that I was faking sick. Violet asked and I explained to her what had happened yesterday. I told her what Tate had done as well and how he reacted when I told him that I would talk to her about staying friends with him and everything. She nodded and told me that's how he was. Once someone started talking to him about a sensitive subject, he kind of shuts down and goes off. She explained that he does have good intentions, but he expresses them and tries to help in ways that are just… very bad. I asked her to elaborate, but again… she wouldn't. Maybe it was for the better that I didn't know.

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><p><strong>What is this secret that is being kept from Elouise? Hm? Well I think we all know what it is! I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading! :)<strong>

**xxKellyn **


	5. Spirits Appear

**Hello friends! It's the next chapter! A little side note. A Guest pointed out I put Leah in the story. I wasn't thinking when I did that! Whoops! I think I'm going to keep it as Leah, but it's going to be a different person who acts the same. Yeah? Sorry about that if that was confusing for anyone else! Thank you Guest for pointing that out by the way! :) Enjoy!**

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><p>That evening was rather normal for my family. We watched some TV and had dinner before my parents made me go to bed early. I laid there staring at the ceiling and playing on my phone until midnight until I fell asleep. I woke up about an hour and a half later when I heard something in the hall. "Mom?" I asked as I sat up sleepily. I yawned when I heard more noises and stood. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked out into the hallway, but no one was there. I glanced at the staircase and I saw a vague shadow running down the steps. "Dad?" I asked and followed the shadow down the steps. I tilted my head in confusion as the shadow moved quickly across the kitchen. I walked in and looked around. I heard a door creak open and looked over at the basement door. I hadn't been downstairs at all. I walked over and swallowed thickly. "Hello?" I called out.<p>

I started to walk down the stairs and they creaked beneath my feet. I tried to find a light switch and I ran into a cord that was hanging over the ceiling. I pulled on it, but nothing happen. "Hello?" My voice was turning shaky and I took a deep breath. I heard something scurry across the floor and I screamed, running for the stairs and tripping over something as I reached them. Something had a hold of my ankle and it felt like there were nails digging into me. I kicked whatever it was and ran up the stairs, slamming the door behind me and breathing heavily. I heard laughing from what sounded like two kids behind the door and I squeezed my eyes shut.

"Elouise?" The light in the kitchen turned on and I jumped looking at my parents. "What are you doing? Are you okay?" I looked down at my ankle and there were scratches all over it. I only shook my head and slid my back down the basement door.

"S-Something a-attacked me downstairs…" I muttered as dad knelt by me.

"What were you doing down there in the first place?" He asked me.

"I saw someone… something go down there and- and I followed it. I couldn't find the light switch and when I found the cord on the light and tried to pull it, it didn't turn on and then I tried to run up and something grabbed me. Look at my ankle!" I said and pointed to it. It was bleeding now.

"What about it?" Dad asked.

I looked at him and then back at it and it was fine. I was shook my head. "It was just bleeding…"

"Honey, did you watch something scary before bed?" Mom asked.

"No! I swear! Something down there attacked me!" I said, my voice raising.

"Get some sleep. We'll talk about this in the morning before you go to school, okay?" Dad said.

"You don't believe me…" I whispered and looked at him.

"I didn't say that," He said quickly.

"But you're implying it!" I said and stood up quickly before walking up the stairs and slamming the door to my room. I laid in bed and curled up. It still felt as if nails were digging into my ankle and I did my best to push it to the back of my mind and go to sleep.

The next morning, I sat at the counter as my parents just talked at me. Telling me I was probably sleep walking and having a bad dream. My dad said that eating some types of food before bed could also play roles in things like that. I didn't listen to them, though. I know what happened down in that basement and if they didn't want to believe me, fine. I finished breakfast, told each of them good bye and then left to go to school.

I didn't run into Leah thank God because she'd probably harass me for money again. I went to my locker and then my first class. There were posters up with Halloween jokes on them and stuff. I forgot that it was almost Halloween and I smiled at the thought of it. It was my favorite time of year and my favorite holiday. I went to my first class and the day began nicely. I even talked to a few people to figure out what I had missed the day before. They invited me to sit at lunch and I told them sure.

They were all pretty cool people and it was such a mix. Three of them were in theatre while two did backstage work, one loved science and math while someone else liked literature and was a grammar person (he corrected me at least four times). They were all pretty nice and reminded me a lot of my friends back home. After school I went out for coffee with them and got home around five. When I got there Tate was walking out. I smiled and he grabbed me, pulling me aside. "Where were you?" He asked lowly.

"At school?" I said and furrowed my eyebrows.

"Until five?" He asked.

"Sorry? Some people asked if I wanted to go to coffee with them," I said. "Why does it matter?"

"Nothing, never mind," he said and let me go.

"Tate… I talked to Violet. She said that she wouldn't tell me what you did… But I'm hoping that you will. You don't have to now or really soon, but I hope that you can one day…" I said sincerely.

Tate looked to me and nodded some. "Okay…" He whispered. "I'll think about it. I just… I don't want you to hate me…"

"I can promise you that I won't hate you, Tate," I told him softly and took his hand gently.

He looked down at our hands and then back up at me. His features softened some and nodded. "Okay…" he muttered softly. As he walked out the gate, I turned away and went inside the house. I told my parents all about my day at school and the new people that I had met. For the first time in a long time, I felt truly happy.

I was up in bed that night, fiddling with my phone and going through some old pictures, thinking about Oregon. I texted one of my friends and told them what had been going on, leaving out the stuff that had happened the night before because, like my parents, she'd probably think that I was crazy. She told me that I should do some research on the house though, considering it was called the "Murder House."

_**Elouise:** I'm not into all of that research stuff _

_**Ari: **Am I going to end up doing this for you like I had done the time with the haunted park that we went to_

_**Elouise: **Hahaha yes please! _

_**Ari: **Okay I'll get back to you if I find anything interesting._

_**Elouise: **Thanks Ari. Gotta get some sleep. School tomorrow :P_

_**Ari: **Night_

_**Elouise: **Night!_

I set my phone on the bedside table and turned the lamp off. I was just about to fall asleep, but I noticed something in the corner of my room. My eyes widened and I looked at the figure standing there. It was a lady dressed clothes that looked like they were from the 20s. She was staring out the window to my room. When she looked in my direction, I pretended to be asleep and when I opened my eyes again she was gone. There was no way in hell I was sleeping tonight. I sat up and when I did there were two people standing at the end of my bed. I squeaked and they vanished. I got up quickly and started to run out of my room. I turned to go to my parents' room, but the lady who was looking out my window was walking around the hall. I ran down the stairs and out of the house, breathing heavily and looking around with wide eyes. In every window of the house, there were different faces of different people, all of them staring at me. My head started to spin and I ended up blacking out on the front lawn.

I woke up and Tate was standing over me with a worried look etched on his face. I blinked a few times. "I thought you were dead or something…" He whispered and helped me sit up.

I looked up into the windows and shook my head. "N-No… But… There were so many people in the house. They all… They all were just staring at me…" I muttered.

Tate nodded. "There's souls trapped in this house, Elouise. So many…" He whispered.

"So they were all ghosts?" I asked.

He nodded lightly. "Maybe it's time that you learn some of the actual history of this house, Ellie." He helped me up and we quietly walked up the stairs to my room and sat down for what was going to be a long discussion…

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><p><strong>Tate's always popping up around Elouise. Meehee. I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading as always and don't forget to follow, review and favorite! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	6. Stories to be Told

**:)**

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><p><strong><span>Tate's POV <span>**

As we sat in her room, I waited for her to get comfortable and relaxed before going on with the stories of the house, something that would indeed be hard for her to accept. I knew that Nora was behind this. She told me that she was going to make Elouise see everyone in this house, let her know each of their sufferings. Why her? She wouldn't tell me. No one would. For some reason all the ghosts in this damned house were drawn to her and they all were seeking help… including me. Ellie looked up at me and nodded. "Okay, I think… I think I'm okay," she told me.

I nodded and sighed. I didn't want to tell her any of this. I wanted her to stay in the house and I didn't want her to leave. She meant too much to me for her to leave so soon… "Ellie, please promise me that you won't get scared and run away from this house, okay?" I said to her.

"Of course I won't," she said sincerely and I smiled weakly.

If only she knew what I really was. What I had done… She would probably run scared just like everyone else did that I wanted to help. I wanted to help her and make her see that she could be safe in this house. There was no way in hell that I was going to tell her my story. Not yet. I couldn't yet. "So, let's start from the beginning with the Montgomerys. There was a couple here, a wife and husband. The husband was a doctor who would take in young women who were celebrities and perform illegal abortions on them. His wife Nora always would talk of having her own baby. When she finally got him she would make sure that he had the world. One night, though a boyfriend of a patient of Charles' came and kidnapped the baby, later killing it. Charles saw how distraught his wife was and tried to piece the child back together, but made a monster of the baby, Thaddeus, instead. She killed her husband and then herself."

"The first murder suicide of the 'murder house,'" Elouise said. "That's horrible…"

I pressed my lips into a thin line, remembering all the times that Nora had comforted me as a child. Then my mind flashed to when she wanted Vivien's baby, but I wasn't going to let her take him. She got her way though… kind of. "Next story?" I asked.

Elouise nodded and moved closer, intrigued by the gruesome stories of the house. As much as I wanted to tell her about Violet and rat her out, she was allowing me to be friends with Elouise so I would respect her in that way. I left out my story also and coaxed her into going to sleep after the story about the nurses who were murdered in the house. She was reluctant, but I could tell she was tired. I helped her lay down and waited for her to go to sleep. Nora appeared beside me and looked down at Elouise with me. "She's supposed to help us? How?" Nora asked. "She's just a young girl who knows nothing of our kind."

"She'll learn," I said while looking down at her sleeping face.

"You'll need to tell her soon, Tate…" Nora insisted. "We need her in this house and if she finds out and then leaves then it will all be on you."

"Not yet," I snapped and looked up at Nora. I took a deep breath to calm myself. "Not yet. I can't tell her yet. She's going to hate me. She'll never want to see me again." I glanced back down at Elouise before up at Nora again. "Why do we need her here? What's her significance?"

Nora rested a hand on my cheek and I closed my eyes a moment. Her touch suddenly vanished and when I opened my eyes she was gone. I looked back at Elouise and pushed some hair away from her face before making sure that I wasn't going to be able to be seen by any of the living and climbed in bed next to her, watching her sleep.

"You're still pulling that shit, Tate?" A familiar voice asked.

Violet stood in the door way and shook her head at me. "What do you want?" I asked. "And don't wake her…"

"Nothing. I was coming to check on… our new friend to see how she was doing. Those two punk kids tricked her to going into the basement to 'meet' Thaddeus," Violet said and walked around the room some. "They are two people that I could live without here…" She shook her head some and looked back to me. I was watching her every move carefully. "What are you doing Tate?"

"I was giving her a little history on the house. Nora kind of scared her tonight. I'm looking out for her."

"Tate, whenever you try to help someone, you end up hurting them so why don't you just stop?" She said.

I stood and stormed over to her, getting into her face. "I'm _not_ going to hurt _anyone_ this time, Violet. I've changed. I'm not like that anymore."

"Isn't that similar to what you had told me? Then you got my mom pregnant and you've killed countless people in this house. Let's not forget that."

I narrowed my eyes at her and she narrowed hers back. "I'm. Not. Him. Anymore," I repeated slowly.

"Sure," was all Violet said before vanishing.

I was so over that vanishing shit with her.

**Elouise's POV **

It was the day before Halloween and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. My friends at school were going to a haunted house somewhere outside LA and my parents wouldn't let me go, so guess who was stuck home on her favorite holiday? Yeah...

I walked into the living room and plopped on the couch next to my mom who was enthralled in some daytime television show, as per usual. "Are you sure I can't go to the haunted house, mom?" I whined to her. "Pleeeeeease."

"Elouise, no. Your dad and I just don't think that it's a good idea. We don't know these kids. We don't know how well they drive or what. I just don't feel comfortable," she said like she had told me the past few times that I had asked her if I could go.

I groaned and leaned into her. "Moooooom…"

"Elouiiiiiiiise," she mocked and wrapped her arms around me. "Why don't you hang out with Violet? Or that patient that dad's been helping. He seems like a nice boy and you seem to have taken a liking to him."

I blushed and looked up at her. "I have not," I muttered and pursed my lips together.

"Oh really?" She asked and smiled at me. "I'm pretty sure that you have."

"I can't date one of dad's patients," I said and then thought of a couple of other reasons why I didn't think we'd work out.

"Dad said that he talks about you all the time in his sessions. He says that you're really helping him see a brighter side to things. He mentioned something about Violet never being able to understand him as much as you… Do they know each other? Maybe all of you can hang out that night!" Mom rambled off the last couple of sentences.

I pursed my lips together trying to determine whether or not to tell her about how Violet wants me to steer clear of him, but then that might make her not let me see him, so I was deciding against it. "I'll talk to them and see what they're doing," I muttered.

"Great! I really wish I could get ahold of Vivien, but every time I dial the number she gave me, it's busy, so… I don't know. They must just be a busy family or something." Mom shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

I managed to wriggle my way out of her embrace and went into the backyard, sitting on the gazebo that was there. It was chilly outside, but the sun was very bright and shining down. It was a beautiful day. "Hey there, Ellie." I turned and saw Tate standing there with his crooked smile as per usual. "I was walking past and thought that I could come pop in and say hi."

I shook my head with a smile. "Anytime, Tate," I said and gestured for him to come sit by me. He hesitated a moment before doing so. "Hey, what are you doing on Halloween?"

He smiled. "My favorite night. I like to roam around usually and just find a quiet place to sit…" He muttered and smiled softly. "It's one night that I get to myself."

"Well, do you have room for two more?" I asked and smiled, bumping my shoulder into his.

"What do you mean?"

"Can I tag along and maybe Violet can too?" I bit down on my lip, seeing the look on his face.

He didn't look pleased with the fact that I asked if Violet could come too. "You can, but Violet—"

"Come on Tate. Nothing will be awkward or anything. Please?" I pouted at him.

He looked down at his hands and took deep breaths like he was calming himself. His eyebrows were knitted together in thought and he looked like he was really concentrating. "You know Violet and I aren't on the best of terms."

"I know, Tate, but I am still friends with both of you and I would like to hang out with _both _of my friends on my favorite holiday. Come on. I trust that you two can tolerate each other for one night."

He muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "We tolerate each other more than that…" I decided not to comment on it and he looked at me. "Fine. For you I'll try anything."

I smiled in relief and nodded. "Thank you." I chewed on my bottom lip again, a bad habit that I needed to break at some point, before asking, "How do you think Violet will react?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "Probably about the same as me."

I nodded my head slowly pursing my lips together. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of."

"You're never scared," he joked.

I laughed lightly and shrugged a bit.

We sat on the gazebo for a while before he realized that it was time for one of his sessions. He walked inside and I watched him before sighing and closing my eyes. When I opened them there was Violet standing by the gate. "Hey," she said. "What are you doing?"

"You and Tate both. You're always popping up one right after the other," I joked.

She raised her eyebrows. "I saw you two were talking and… I decided to wait until you were done." She came up and sat by me. "How are you doing?"

"The same as I always am. I'm supposed to be going to a haunted house tomorrow night, but my parents won't let me. So I figured I hang with you and… Tate."

Violet raised an eyebrow and looked at me. "Me _and _Tate? Yeah, no."

"Violet…" I muttered. "Please. Tate said he'd be civil!"

"Him civil?" She scoffed. "Sorry, I don't believe that. Anyways, I can't. My parents and I are going to take my little brother out."

I pouted at her and sighed. "Okay. If you have time, though, you should find us."

"Maybe," she muttered and smiled some at me. "How's the house treating you?"

I pursed my lips and shrugged. "Things have started to get… weird and it's living up to its name. Tate gave me a whole background on the house and what all has happened. We got up to how there were nurses in the house that were murdered and then he made me go to sleep."

"When did that happen?"

"Oh, we haven't talked about this stuff yet. I forgot." I scooted closer to her. "Like I said things have been happening in this house recently. The first instance last week. I woke up and heard some stuff in the hallway and there was this shadow that led me down to the basement and when I went down there, I was attacked. My ankle was bleeding, but then suddenly it wasn't when I was in the kitchen with my parents. So… I don't know, it was weird. And then I was about to go to sleep one night when Nora, the first owner of the house, came in and just stared out my window and then the nurses were standing at the end of my bed. I ran out of the house and looked at all the windows and there were different faces in each one. I fainted and Tate found me, taking me inside and telling me the stories," I told her and shrugged.

Violet nodded and looked back at the house. "Sounds about right…" She muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

"Nothing, it's just… the legends of this house… It…" She shrugged. "They're messed up."

I smiled and shook my head. "It's sad. Just it's all like really sad…" I shrugged and looked down at my hands.

We were both quiet for a while and then Violet suggested we go up to my room and hang out for a bit. As we walked up the stairs, I thought about how many more lost souls were in this house.

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><p><strong>Halloween is coming up and you know what that means! The souls of the house will be out and about! I hope you liked this chapter! Thank you for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	7. Halloween and the Truth

**I like this chapter... Like a lot. So I hope you do too! Enjoy! **

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><p>"Rather grim dressing today, Elouise," mom said, looking at my all black ensemble.<p>

"It's Halloween!" I said and smiled widely. "My favorite holiday! I need to look the part."

Mom just rolled her eyes and smiled at me. "Of course," she said. "Do you have a costume you're going to wear?"

"No, but Tate and I are going to hang out," I said to her.

"What about Violet?" She asked.

"Violet is going to go with her family to take out her little brother," I explained and shrugged with a smile.

"Oh, so it's just you and Tate," she commented with a smug look on her face.

"Yes and that's just it. Me and Tate. _Friends._ Hanging out. That's it," I said emphasizing it.

"Okay," she said and smirked. "When is he picking you up?"

"I think about five," I said trying to remember what he had said after his session the day before. I grabbed an apple and started to eat it.

"What are you two going to be doing?"

"I don't know."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

"What time will you be back."

"Mom…" I groaned.

"Sorry too many questions. I just want to make sure you get home okay. Dad and I are going to a Halloween party for his office and I don't know when we'll get home."

"What famous couple are you two dressing up as?" I joked as I went and poured a cup of coffee.

"We don't—" I gave her a knowing look. "Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."

"Cute. Weren't they in _Holiday Inn_?" I asked remembering a movie that my parents used to watch all of the time.

"Yes!" She said and smiled widely.

I rolled my eyes and went into the living room, sitting down and watching TV like a usual morning. The day leading up to that night was rather uneventful and I found myself looking in the mirror a whole lot and checking my hair. I redid it a bunch. I didn't bother with too much make up because I didn't like putting it on all the time anyways. The most I did was eyeliner and mascara. I put a bit of foundation on my face, but that was about it. I went outside and sat on my porch, where I usually waited for Tate,

A few minutes passed and someone sat down next to me. I jumped a little and looked up at Tate. "Did I scare you?" He asked as he almost always did.

"Nope!" I said and stood up.

He looked up at me and smiled some. "Do you have any places in mind that you want to go?" He asked me.

I shook my head. "I'm good with going anywhere," I told him and smiled back.

He stood. "Well then let's go," he said.

"Where exactly?"

"Anywhere."

I blushed a little bit as he took my hand and led me toward the gate. He stopped a second and then looked up at the sky, taking a breath, before stepping out with a relieved look on his face. "Do you spend so much time here that you just can't wait to leave?" I joked.

He chuckled lightly. "Something like that," he said to me and we started walking down the street. The sun had already set and I looked around at the kids that were running around in their costumes. I sighed softly as we walked and Tate looked down at me. "Have you been to the beach yet?"

I shook my head. "No."

He smirked and pulled me along the sidewalk. It took a little bit to get to the beach, but once we were there, I smiled widely. The smell of the salty water coming off the ocean. There was a nice cool breeze and the calmness of the beach with no one there was absolutely beautiful.

"It's perfect here…" I whispered. Tate nodded and pulled me along farther. "Where are we going?"

"A spot I used to go to when I would have a bad day," he said.

I smiled softly and we ended up on a slight slope that faced the ocean. He sat down and then pulled me next to him. I smiled softly and bit my lip as I looked out at the ocean where the stars shined on the surface of the water. "Are you having a good day right now?" I whispered.

He nodded and bit down on his lip gently. I laid my head on his shouldered and I felt him look down at me some. He squeezed my hand gently and we just sat in the calmness of the beach. I hummed softly and closed my eyes some before Tate groaned. I opened my eyes and there were a few kids in front of us who were dressed in either zombie or ghost costumes. "When are you going to leave me alone?" Tate asked.

"Who are they?" I asked and sat up some.

"A new girl? Not that other one from a few years ago?" The guy in the varsity jacket asked.

"I told you I was sorry," Tate said through gritted teeth.

"Sorry for what?" I asked.

"Sorry isn't enough. You're in that house for 364 days of the year and then you come out, walking around in the world, so we get our chance to get a little revenge every now and then," a girl dressed in a gothic way said.

A kid behind her gurgled and I noticed his mouth was missing. "You're costumes are amazing…" I muttered.

"Costumes? You think this is all costume and make up?" A guy dressed in a leather jacket asked.

"Who are you? You're not like us," a cheerleader asked.

"I'm—"

"Don't talk to them. We have to go," Tate said and stood, pulling me backwards.

"Where do you think you're going Tate?"

"Yeah, Tate. Why don't you tell your little girlfriend what you did to us?"

"Come on Tate, tell her."

"SHUT UP!" He shouted. "Run Elouise. Run!" I looked at him and then back at the kids before running away. I looked backwards for a split second and when I turned back, the kid with no mouth was standing there. I screamed and skidded to a stop before stumbling back.

"How did you…" I started but thought back to my house. If my house was filled with ghosts, who's to say that there weren't more ghosts roaming around? "L-Listen. I'm-I'm new to all of this stuff and-and to Tate, this town, but I know that he's a good guy."

"A good guy?!" One of the girls scoffed.

I heard muffled groans and gasps. I looked over and one of the guys was fighting with Tate. "Tate!" I shouted and stood, running towards them, but the other guy, the one with the longer hair, grabbed me and twisted my arms behind my back. "Get off me asshole!" I shouted and tried to pull away.

"Not yet," He muttered lowly.

Tate looked at me and made eye contact and there was a dark look in his eyes. He looked at the guy in the varsity jacket who smirked at him and threw a punch that Tate grabbed and then threw another one. He hit him across the jaw and then in the stomach. The boy stumbled. "That's what I'm talking about Tate!" He shouted and went at him again. Tate didn't look like he was taking anymore of these people's crap. He punched him again and pushed him away before running towards me. The other three tried to block Tate as the guy started dragging me away. The guy in the varsity jacket went for Tate again and yelled something to the long haired guy to take me somewhere where I'd be "safe."

I started getting dragged backwards and I kicked trying to get him off of me. I watched as Tate fought through them. "Wait, wait, wait," I said softly. "Please. Let me go. My arms!" I shouted.

"Oh, shut up," he spat back at me.

I narrowed my eyes and elbowed him before stepping on his foot. He let me go as he cursed and I ran to help Tate. "Elouise no!" He yelled at me. "Run back to the house, okay?! Go!"

"No!" I shouted back.

"Elouise! Get back to the fucking house!" He shouted, the ice laced in his voice making me jump a bit.

I swallowed thickly and looked around at the kids who started to look at me and come closer. I looked at Tate who nodded and then I turned and ran away.

My parents weren't home. Tate hadn't come to check in. I didn't know how to get a hold of Violet. And there was no way in hell that I was going to tell any of my other friends any of this. I paced back and forth in the foyer and tried to take deep calming breaths. What the hell was I going to do? What the hell were those kids talking about? There was banging on the door and I opened it up to reveal Tate standing there. He stormed in and started pacing back and forth some. "Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" He asked as he continued pacing.

"I'm fine Tate, I—" I started and then stopped when he looked at me.

He walked over and grabbed my arm, pulling me closer. He looked in my eyes and felt down my arms and then my back. I swallowed thickly as he started to walk back and forth again. "Those fucking assholes!" He shouted and punched the wall. "They do this every year. Every fucking year."

"Tate… Settle down… Please…" I whispered and walked over to him.

He turned and looked at me before he started to soften. He pursed his lips together and his eyes started to water some. "Sorry…"

"Tate, what were they talking about?" I asked and placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing his arm gently.

He enveloped me in a hug and held me closely. He didn't want to talk about it of course…

Tate left a while later after we had watched a scary movie together on the couch. I went up to my room and took out my laptop. I was going to figure out why everything had happened. I sighed and looked down at my hands. I thought back to the plaque in the library at school. If those kids were ghosts that were wandering around somehow… maybe they were kids from the massacre at school. And if so, why were they so mad at Tate? I looked up "Westfield High Massacre" and swallowed lightly. It was the first thing that popped up and I clicked on the link that led to a news story. I took a deep breath when the guy in the varsity jacket and the cheerleader were the first two on the list.

So my assumption with them was right. I started to scroll down the list and I got a little choked up seeing all the names of the kids and their stories. It was terrible. When I reached the bottom of the list I gasped and stared a minute.

A picture of Tate was there and it read that he had gone into school with a shotgun and killed those fifteen kids and paralyzed the librarian. That was all the way back in the 90s. It said that he was killed by the SWAT team in his house… this house. I swallowed as my mind started racing. I looked up the recent death of the family in the house and Harmon was plastered across the screen. I clicked the link of the news story. Violet. Vivien. Ben. I closed my laptop and pushed it away before pulling my knees to my chest.

This couldn't be happening… Both of them… They were dead. They both had been lying to me the whole time. Why? Why was this happening like this? I ran my fingers through my hair as I shook. "Damn it…" I muttered softly and tilted my head back as tears came to my eyes. I gritted my teeth and took a pillow screaming into it before taking it away from my face. I laid down and curled up into my bed hoping this was all just some bad dream.

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><p><strong>Sooooooooo finally Elouise has figured it out! What's going to happen between her and Violet and Tate now that she knows the truth about them? Hm... We shall see! :) Thanks for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	8. Tense

**Next chapterrrrr. There's a tense moment that's in this chapter! I'll let you read it and figure it out muhaha! Enjoy! **

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><p>I woke up the next morning, not to mom's normal "rise and shine" routine, but to creaking floorboards. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. My eyes drifted to the end of my bed where my laptop was sitting and I remembered what I had discovered the night before. A chill went down my spine and suddenly Tate appeared at the foot of my bed. I jumped and looked up at him. "Are you scared of me now?" He asked, his face grim. He vanished before I could answer and I looked around my room quickly and nervously.<p>

I took a few calming breaths. "Tate… I-I'm not scared of you…" I whispered.

"Oh yeah?" He voice echoed and suddenly he was right next to me. I gasped and hopped off my bed. "Sooooo not scared of me…" He muttered in a mocking way.

He vanished once again. I looked around the room. "Tate… Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, trying to stay calm.

"Because. I knew you would hate me. What I did… I-I don't know why I did it. I was messed up. I'm still messed up…" He muttered.

"Tate—"

"No!" He shouted and appeared in front of me. I backed up into the wall as he towered over me and looked me dead in the eyes. "Don't make excuses. I know you're scared. I can practically smell it."

"Tate…" I chewed on my bottom lip and he vanished yet again. "Tate!"

He didn't show up though and I slid down the wall, holding my head in my hands and letting tears slip from my eyes. I wasn't scared of him but at the same time I wasn't not scared of him. He had killed fifteen kids… fifteen innocent kids. And on top of that, he was a ghost which was weird to be honest. My first two friends in California were already dead. They were souls trapped in this house and unable to move on. That would be just my luck that I would make friends with dead people. I ran a hand through my hair and sniffled as I crawled over to my bed and reached between my mattresses trying to find my small box. My eyes widened when it wasn't there and I searched frantically for it. What if mom or dad had found it somehow? What if they knew what I was doing to myself?

My hand finally found the tiny box and I pulled it out and opened it up. I was about to take the razor out when Violet suddenly appeared. She looked down at me and pursed her lips. "I'm sorry," she said. "I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how you would react."

"It's fine…" I muttered and looked down at the razor, debating on whether I really should again or not. It had been a whole week. Almost a week and a half. I had been doing really good.

"Ellie." She walked over and sat down in front of me. She didn't make a move to take the box away or anything, but she did look at it a moment before continuing. "I just didn't want you to be afraid of me. I wanted to tell you everything, about the house, my family, the history, everything, but I didn't know how. Like Tate explained to me once, going up to someone and being like 'Hi, I'm Violet, I'm dead, wanna hang out?' That wouldn't really fly would it?"

"I know, Violet!" I snapped at her. Before speaking again, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm just… I'm confused…"

"I know and it all gets easier to understand, I promise. You're here to help us, Ellie. They say that you can interact with us that no one else can. I can control the other ghosts in this house for the most part, but you… You can get them to listen and do things that no one ever could."

I looked up from the small box and at her. "What do you mean?" I questioned.

Violet shrugged. "Honestly, I don't even know what it means. I just know that you're special to this house. For some reason you hold a connection with it like I had before I… you know." I pursed my lips together and took a deep calming breath, closing the box and putting it back between the mattresses. "That takes guts." I opened my eyes and looked at her with a small smile. "How was your Halloween?"

"Interesting to say the least," I muttered. "He took me to the beach and then these kids… ghosts… spirits of kids that Tate had killed from the school, they attacked us and Tate made me run home. He showed up and was pissed off for a minute and then fell apart. We watched a movie and then he went home… Well, he 'went home.'" I used air quotes around the last words of my sentence.

Violet nodded, seeming like she was remembering something from the past. "Yeah, that happened to us when we went to the beach on Halloween," she said.

"Wait, you two did the same thing?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean, the beach on Halloween? Who wouldn't go there? It's perfect because no one is around to bug you." I smiled and nodded. "Do you like Tate?"

I blushed a bit and shrugged. "I don't know anymore, Violet. After learning everything that I did… I just… I don't know…"

Violet pursed her lips. "I think it's okay for me to tell you my story," she said.

I tilted my head some. "What do you mean?" I asked her.

"My story, my experience in this damn house and with Tate…" I swallowed and nodded some. She sat cross legged on the floor and looked down at her hands down in her lap before she looked back at me. "So, I moved here with my parents from Boston because my dad was having an affair and my mom thought that if we got away everything would get better. Tate started off as one of my dad's patients as well and we got to talking one day. Dad didn't want me hanging out with Tate because he knew about the dark things that floated around his head and he didn't like the way that he talked about me to him… Well, weird shit started happening. There was a guy in a rubber costume, some ghost stuff… I don't know. My mom got pregnant and more things got weird because she was having twins and only one was my dad's. We later found out that the rubber man…" It took her a minute to say it, "…Tate… Had raped her and got her pregnant. I killed myself, but Tate didn't tell me I was dead, because… I didn't really want to die… He was protecting me. Time passed and mom had the babies. The one was a stillborn because the other was supposedly more 'evil' and more 'powerful.' Nora and this chick Hayden fought over my brother. Nora believes the baby is hers, but mom takes care of him, so he's our family. I told Tate we couldn't be together anymore and he wanted to wait for me, but time after time, I told him no and that I never wanted him back. I was over him, I'm still over him. He finally got over me and I think he's moved onto you."

My mouth fell wide open as she spoke and I couldn't believe the hell her family had gone through. It was crazy… That's why she always wanted me to stay away from Tate. No other reason. She was being a good friend and protecting me. "Violet… I… just… wow…" I muttered, not knowing what else to say to her. My mind was having trouble processing everything.

She only nodded and sighed. "Yeah… I know."

We were quiet for a moment and I heard footsteps in the hall. "Ellie!" Mom called and Violet's eyes widened. She quickly vanished just as mom opened the door. "Ellie, what are you doing?"

"I uh… I was looking for something," I lied.

"Oh, okay. Breakfast will be ready soon and then dad and I are going to head into town. I have a job interview today and I want him to come with me," she said and smiled.

"That's great mom!" I said and stood to go hug her.

"Thanks, sweetie." She hugged me back with a smile. "Now, let's go eat some breakfast."

I nodded and we walked down to the kitchen. Breakfast consisted of cereal and toast. It was already ten in the morning. My parents were talking about the job mom was interviewing for and my mind was in a whole other place, thinking of Violet and Tate. How they were dead. The history between them. Everything that Tate had done… "Ellie?" Dad asked.

I looked up and he raised an eyebrow at me. I was mindlessly stirring my cereal. "Sorry, I zoned out," I muttered.

He chuckled. "We're going to head out. You going to be okay here alone?"

I'm not really alone, is what I wanted to say, but I just nodded my head as they stood. They walked out of the room and I heard them leave soon after. I finished my breakfast and then went upstairs to my room. I didn't want to open my laptop and I didn't really want to see anyone right now. I went into my studio and started drawing. I zoned out as I sketched out my thoughts, putting pencil to paper and then after about a half hour I was done. I looked down at it and bit down on my lip. I closed the notebook and looked up, Tate was in the doorway like the first time I met him. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I want to talk," he said.

I stood and tried to walk past him, but he blocked my path. "Move Tate," I told him.

"No. I want to talk to you and explain everything that happened last night," he said.

"Just last night? Do you want to explain to me everything else too?" I asked. He clenched his jaw. "That's what I thought."

I tried to move past him again, but he blocked me. "What did she tell you?" He asked lowly, his eyes were dark with what seemed like rage and I was slightly afraid at that point.

"Everything, Tate," I said to him. "Everything that you had done. Why would you… God Tate it's just…" I shook my head and moved away from him not knowing what to say.

"Everything? Elouise, you have to understand. I was trying to help them I wanted to—"

"But Tate, what you did was very wrong. It was terrible. How could you kill all those people? How could you do that to Violet's mother?! I don't… I don't understand!"

He was quiet and his eyes narrowed some. "No one ever understands." He vanished and I swallowed thickly. I started to walk out of the room, but the door slammed shut and Tate shoved me against the door. "No one ever understands me! I thought you were different! I thought you would finally understand!" He shouted in my face, rage was etched all over it.

"Tate!" I screamed and tried to move away.

"No! Listen to me!" He shouted. He leaned closer into me. "I want to help people. I don't want to hurt people." His voice was low. "That's why I do what I do."

"Tate…" I whispered and tried to move away from him again, but he was strong and his gripped tightened around my wrists.

"Please understand…" He whispered.

"You need to go, Tate."

"No I don't."

"Tate, I want you to go away. Leave me alone please."

His eyes narrowed and he shook his head. "I made that damn mistake once." He shoved away from me. "This isn't over, Elouise."

He vanished and I swallowed thickly. I closed my eyes and squeezed my eyes shut, calming myself. Why the hell did it have to be me?

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><p><strong>Ohhhhhh shiiiiiit. Tate is getting pissed off, hm? But it's not over oh no it's never over! Lalala! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	9. Falling For You

**WAAAAAH. **

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><p>A few weeks passed and weird stuff would happen around the house. We'd hear noises and things started flying off shelves. Violet said it was Tate trying to get my attention and I didn't know why. He wasn't showing up for any of his sessions and my dad was worried. He tried to contact his mother, but she never answered her phone. Nora would show up in my room every now and then and I would see other spirits, but my parents never did. The only one who would show herself to them was Moira, who Violet told me was killed by Constance after finding her with her husband. Violet also mentioned that Constance was actually Tate's mother too which was very weird when I would run into her going to school. She'd give me dirty looks and I assumed it was because I had upset Tate.<p>

Besides the supernatural part of my life, everything else had been okay. School was better with my group of friends. We would hang out a lot and then I'd come home and hang out with Violet who I would tell everything to. She really was becoming my best friend even though she was a ghost. We just related on a lot of things. Tate wasn't showing up to me, but sometimes I could definitely feel his presence and I would want to know what he was planning, if he was planning anything that is. Mom had gotten a job and with dad at his sessions with patients that weren't at home usually I had been home alone a lot and that's mostly when I would see the other spirits of the house.

Nora was someone who popped up a lot and she roamed around. I'd talk to her a lot to be honest. She always wanted to talk it seemed. There were two little boys that liked to play tricks. Thaddeus was in the basement, he was the one who had attacked me. The two nurses were very rarely seen, but they made appearances every now and then. It was sometimes nerve wracking to be home alone when there were always spirits wandering around the house. I believed they were drawing energy from the house somehow. You know like in some of those movies? They seemed like real people when they were around and walking and talking and just acting like they did in their past lives. It was strange.

I was sat in my room one particular day. We were off of school because Thanksgiving had just passed and I was playing on my computer. I sighed softly and hummed a bit with the tune of the music that was playing in the background of my room. The 1975 was one of my favorite bands. I sighed as I sat back and pushed away my computer, just staring up at the ceiling. I sighed heavily and I sat up again, Tate was standing there and I looked at him with wide eyes before calming myself like I had to do when I was around him. "Hi Tate…" I muttered and he didn't say a word. "How are you doing?" Again nothing and I rolled my eyes as I stood up. "Tate, are you going to acknowledge me?" I stepped closer to him. "Tate?" As I took another step, he grabbed my arm and pulled me close, looking into my eyes. "Tate!"

He backed me up and into the wall, keeping my eye contact with his and I felt my heart rate quicken. "Just… shush…" He said softly and swallowed some before he started to lean into me. His breath was warm against my face and my eyes fluttered close. I felt his lips brush against mine and my breathing hitched at the slightest bit of contact. I heard a small chuckle escape from his lips before he fully encased mine with his own. His lips were smooth and cooler than mine and it was… nice. His hands rested on the small of my back and he pressed me closer to him. When my lips met his, I knew that he wasn't going to let me take control of the situation which didn't bother me. I clutched the front of his shirt, trying to get him closer so there was no space between the two of us.

The music still played softly in the background and it was very fitting for the two us at the moment.

_You're all I need_

_According to your heart, _

_My place is not deliberate, _

_Feeling of your arms_

_I don't wanna be your friend, _

_I wanna kiss your neck _

_Don't you see me? _

_I, I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you_

_Don't you need me? _

_I, I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you_

_And on this night and in this light_

_I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you_

_Maybe you'll change your mind_

Tate and I were sitting in my studio. We were both silent, Nirvana playing quietly in the background. I gently sketched in my sketchbook, my mind not on my drawing but on Tate. I didn't look at him and I didn't speak at all. I just sat on my couch and drew. "Ellie…" Tate spoke up. I swallowed and didn't answer. "Ellie… Can we talk about it?"

"What?" I asked and looked up at him. "There's nothing to talk about."

"I feel like we need to talk about something," he said softly and he stood up, walking over to me.

I swallowed and closed my eyes as he sat down by me. "All we did was kiss, why do we have to talk about it?" He shrugged and placed a hand on my knee, causing me to relax some. "It's just…" I began.

"Just what?"

"I don't know. I feel… I feel like…" I didn't know how to word it at all. "I don't know. I'm confused and I don't like it."

He pulled me closer to him and his hand that was on my knee moved around my waist as he kissed my temple. "Sorry…" He muttered. "I felt so damn angry though. I didn't know what to do and throwing things and making noises wasn't doing anything and you just brushed it off and so…" He shrugged. "It just came out like that."

"I know," I said softly and leaned my head on his shoulder with a sigh. I didn't know what to say.

"Elouise, I'm sorry about not telling you anything. I'm sorry that I was being such a jerk and so violent towards you, out of all people. I'm sorry, truly and wholly sorry. I'm an asshole, I know that, but… I've changed. I really have changed… " He was looking down at his hands and shook his head.

I pursed my lips together as I finally allowed myself to look at him. "I forgive you, Tate," I whispered. "But I swear if you ever do anything bad again. If you hurt someone, especially someone I know, I won't ever want to see you again. I will be out of this house as fast I can. Do you understand?"

"Elouise—"

"I mean it," I said sternly looking at him with a serious face.

He nodded his head some as his eyes stayed trained on his hands.

I swallowed thickly. Should I really believe him? Should I really pursue a relationship with someone who killed people and raped someone? I didn't know what to do and my head hurt from all the questions bouncing back and forth in my head. I must have looked deep in thought because Tate just sighed and he hugged me close. What was I doing?

What was I doing?

Why was I doing it?

Where was my common sense? Something that I used to have a lot of.

I sighed heavily as I tried to shift in bed, but Tate kept me in place where I was. I swallowed some and looked back at him over my shoulder. I thought that ghosts didn't sleep… But maybe Tate pretended to make him feel more alive. I sighed softly and swallowed some as I looked around the room. Tate shifted in his "sleep" and that's when I was allowed to shift. I hummed a bit and I heard a sigh from behind me. I looked behind me again and saw that Tate's eyes were now open and he was gazing at me. He looked rather confused and he rubbed circles on my abdomen with his thumbs. "You're not asleep yet?" He asked softly.

I shook my head lightly and I gave a small smile. "I'm just not tired yet," I mumbled and he flipped me over so I was facing him, his eyes were boring into mine.

"What are you?" He asked with a small smile on his face.

I only shrugged my shoulders in response. I didn't know. I didn't know anything at that moment. All I know is that I felt confused and I didn't know how to feel. All this uncertainty in my life at this moment was really pushing me over the edge. "Tate…" I whispered softly as I fiddled with the collar of his shirt.

"Mmhm?" He hummed in response.

"You're going to be here forever aren't you?" I asked seriously, not meeting his eyes. "You and Violet."

I heard him swallow and his teeth grinding some, indicating he was probably clenching his jaw some. "Yeah," He answered shortly. The next question had been lingering in my head since earlier that day. I had never thought too much into it until now, until Tate and I kissed. Violet and I confided in each other about everything. What was going to happen when I moved out? "What, Ellie?"

"Nothing… I just—"

"No more with the 'I justs.' I had enough of that earlier when we were trying to discuss things," he mumbled irritably.

"Sorry," I sighed.

He tilted my head up by grabbing my chin between his forefinger and thumb. "What's on your mind? I know how jumbled and confusing things can get, Elouise. Talk."

My eyes fluttered some as I gazed at him and he back at me until I finally built up the gumption to ask him. "What's going to happen when I leave? I'm not going to be here forever and what's going to happen then, Tate?" I asked. "Plus, I'm going to get older, you and Violet are never going to. What then? I don't know… I don't want to lose you two…" I tried to swallow pass a lump that was building in my throat.

Tate was quiet as he just held me closer and gently rubbed my back. What was going through his head now? Why was he all the sudden so quiet? "I don't want to lose you either," he whispered. I nodded and moved closer to him as my eyes began to get droopy. "Sleep Elouise." I shook my head not wanting to yet. If I was going to have to be without him at some point, maybe very soon, then I wanted to spend every minute with him and Violet I could. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"I'm fine." I fluttered my eyes and looked up at him some and by the look on his face he didn't look pleased at all.

"Go to sleep Elouise. I mean it," he said more lowly causing his voice to take on a more menacing tone.

I stuck out my bottom lip and only moved closer to him. He squeezed my hip playfully and it made me jump a little with a smile on my lips. I nuzzled into him as he started to rub my hip some. I felt nervous around him, knowing what he had done, but at the same time, I felt safe in his embraces and I knew that he sensed it, because his whole demeanor would soften. "Can we watch a movie or something?" I asked him, looking up at him gently.

"Now? Elouise, it's late. You really do need your sleep," he said.

"I can decide how much sleep I get. Let's just watch a movie. It'll help me fall asleep," I prompted.

He thought a moment before sitting up and grabbing my laptop. I opened it up as I sat more up against the headboard before logging in and going to Netflix. I looked through it and tried to find something good for the two of us to watch. I finally settled on an old Disney movie. I smiled as Tate groaned. "Really? You're a Disney lover?" He asked and when I looked over at him, his nose was all scrunched up seeing the Disney castle come on the screen.

"Oh yeah. This is my childhood!" I said and giggled some.

A smile replaced his disgusted expression as he looked towards me. "I remember when this movie came out. My sister Addy loved this stuff," he said.

I smiled as he remembered his sister and how he looked like he was lost in thought. He snapped back into reality when the song _Arabian Nights_, signaling the beginning of the _Aladdin_ started playing. I smiled and watched the screen for a while. Whenever I would start to get sleepy I would start to sit up a little more because I wanted to stay up and watch. Tate huffed once it got to the part where they were flying through the clouds and singing. "This is shit," he said and closed the laptop.

"Hey!" I said and sat with my mouth opened looking at him. "I was watching that!"

"Would you rather be watching that or doing something like this?" He pushed the laptop towards the end of my bed and then moved so he was hovering over me, his eyes locking with mine. He smirked and pecked my lips lightly as I giggled some and closed my eyes. I draped my arms around his neck and looked up at him. "Well?"

"I think this is a little better," I said to him and he pressed his forehead to mine.

"A _little _better?" He said, feigning hurt.

I smiled and leaned up a bit before kissing his lips lingeringly. "Mmhm…" I hummed against them.

"Let's change that…" He muttered and kissed me harder and longer, taking my bottom lip between his teeth and pulling back just a little before going in and kissing me more. His hands caressed my sides and I smiled into our kiss as he wound his arms around my waist and pulled me up. I was sitting on his lap, my legs wrapped around his torso as he moved one hand between my shoulder blades and the other rested on the small of my back. He pressed me close to him so our bodies were flush together. I twirled the curls at the back of his neck around my fingers as we kissed. His tongue suddenly flicked across my bottom lip and my breathing hitched a bit. I slowly opened my mouth, allowing him to deepen the kiss and pull me closer. As his tongue caressed my own and roamed my mouth I felt like we were the only two in the world.

But that was not the case in the least. In the midst of our heated moment, I heard a small gasp and thinking that it was one of my parents I jumped back and looked around, but it wasn't them. I made eye contact with a shocked Violet right before she vanished. Oh great… How was I going to explain this to her?

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><p><strong>Meehee I liked this chapter :) HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE. I am thankful for each and every one of you who read my story! So what did you think of this chapter? How many of you like the idea of Tate and Elouise and how many not so much? Just curious ahha! Thank you for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn**


	10. Crushing

**Sorry for the late update! Time got away from me yesterday! Enjoy! **

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><p>After Violet had disappeared, Tate decided to stay with me through the night and I finally had gotten to sleep as he pretended to be asleep. When I woke up, he was gone, but my laptop was opened and there was a small note left on a Word document. <em>Hope you slept well,<em> was all that it had read. I smiled softly at the small gesture and threw the covers off of myself to get out of bed. It was then that I realized it was Monday and mom hadn't come into my room to wake me up yet and also that meant I had to go to school. I checked the time and holy shit was I late. It was already 8:45 and I had to be at school by 9:00. I quickly threw on some leggings and a baggy sweatshirt before throwing my long chocolate brown hair up and into a messy bun. I hummed a bit debating whether I should put make up on or not and decided to go with a little mascara and purple eyeliner to compliment my blue eyes. I sighed softly and smiled before rushing down the steps. It didn't even seem like my parents were up yet. I found a note on the kitchen island though and smiled. "Sorry I wasn't there to wake you up! I got called into work. Your lunch is in the fridge! Have a good day sweetie! Love, Mom."

I went to the fridge and grabbed my lunch before running out the door without any kind of caffeine in my system and with the time I had gone to sleep last night… well, I was going to be crashing before second period. I sped to school and ended up in the parking lot at five minutes before the bell rang. I booked it to homeroom and sat in my normal desk out of breath. My friend Amy sat there snickering at me. "Where the hell have you been?" She asked, leaning over to talk to me as announcements rang throughout the room.

"I overslept. This school is lucky I even showed up," I remarked.

She rolled her eyes and reached out a hand, tugging on the back of my shirt. "Your sweatshirt is inside out."

I cursed and then laughed at my rushed blundering. "Shut up, I haven't had any caffeine yet this morning," I mumbled.

She shook her head and settled back in her seat as Mr. Volks, our homeroom/Physics teacher, gave us "the eye" basically telling us to shut the hell up and listen. I leaned against the back of my chair and sighed. I could be home sleeping still damn it. Why did I even come in today? Moira would have scolded me for not coming in like I was supposed to, but she wouldn't tell me parents. She was pretty good at that stuff. And Violet… Shit. I had to talk to her about what she saw between Tate and me last night. I hadn't been able to talk to her at all yesterday. I wondered if she had known I was hanging out with Tate and didn't show up, waiting for him to leave or if she was pissed knowing what had happened earlier. She said she was over him and I could be friends, more than friends, whatever Tate and I were, with whoever I wanted to.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Daniel, one of my theater friends, tapped my shoulder. I turned around and he smiled. "What are you doing today after school?" He asked me with a smile.

"Probably going home and just hanging out," I responded. Yeah, hanging out with my ghost friends.

"Cancel that. Want to go get some ice cream? It's my treat," he told me.

"Um… I don't know. I have some homework I have to catch up on," I lied. Honestly I was on top of everything right now. Maybe it being my senior year was kicking my ass back into shape.

"You can catch up on that later! Please?" He pouted at me, his bottom lip sticking out and his jade green eyes looking at me pleadingly.

"Danny…" I muttered and bit my lip. "Okay fine..."

He smiled widely before resting back into his seat. Amy giggled beside me and I shot her a look of confusion. She just shrugged her shoulders and turned her attention to some homework she was trying to finish up.

The bell rang signaling the first class and I grabbed my things leaving the room.

At the end of the day, I was getting things from my locker and when I closed it, Daniel was standing there with a smile across his face. "You ready?" He asked excitedly and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I'm ready. Where are we going for ice cream?" I asked slinging my book bag over my shoulders and taking my phone out of my purse.

"This vintage ice cream shop right down the street," he explained as we started to walk out of school. "It looks like something out of the fifties. The floors are tiled and all the workers wear bow ties and those little paper hat things on their heads. It's pretty cool."

"I do love my vintage things," I muttered and smiled happily at him.

We walked down the street and I shivered some as a cool breeze swept across us. It was the beginning of December and I had forgotten to grab a jacket or something while running out the door this morning. It was about 55 degrees outside and the sweat shirt I was wearing was my dad's from college. It was thin and not as warm as it used to be apparently because the wind was going right through it and hitting my skin. Daniel noticed and he shrugged off his coat and draped it over my shoulders. I blushed at his small gesture and bit my lip.

We got to the ice cream shop and sat in a booth near the front. Daniel asked what I wanted and I told him, reaching in my purse to pull out some cash to give to him, but he was already over at the counter by the time I had pulled it out. He smiled and handed me my chocolate ice cream cone with a smile. "There you go," he said and sat across from me.

"Thank you," I said to him and licked it some.

"Are you going to come to the Christmas concert?" He asked me.

"Oh yeah! When is it?" I asked him. Amy, Daniel, Liam, and Melissa were all in the show and Melissa even had a solo. It was a really big deal for all of them.

"Next weekend," he said and smiled.

"Great! Of course I'll go," I told him.

He smiled at me and as we finished our ice cream, we talked about school and other things. He then walked me back to my car at school and I was about to say goodbye when I looked around the parking lot.

"Where's your car?" I questioned.

"Oh, I was going to walk home," he said and shrugged.

"You don't have to do that. Where do you live?"

"Berro Drive," he told me.

"That's my street too. I can just drive you home," I said.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"It's right down the street from my house." I climbed into my car and looked at him.

He hopped in and raised his eyebrows. "You can just drive to your house and then I'll walk from there."

"Why would I do that?" I questioned and started to car looking at him like he was crazy. "What's your address?"

"It'll be easier." He shrugged and brushed it off.

"Not for you," I pointed out and he shrugged again with a smile. I sighed as I started to drive home. I had the radio on and music played softly in the car. I pulled into my driveway once we arrived at my house and I looked at Daniel who was looking up at the house with wide eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I live in the murder house.,"

"Wow…" He muttered as he continued to look at it. "Is it—"

"Scary? No. Not anymore. At first it was kind of intimidating, but once you make friends with the spirits in the house then it's okay." He looked at me with wide eyes and I smirked. "I'm kidding." Even though I really wasn't.

He smiled a bit and got out of the car as I turned it off and climbed out as well. I smiled at him as he made his way around and he looked at me. He was much taller than me and his green eyes were boring into me. "Can we do this again?"

I tilted my head to the side. "We can do this anytime, Danny," I told him and giggled a bit.

"And I mean… just you and I Ellie. Maybe a real date." He looked nervous as he spoke to me.

I blushed and my eyes widened. Shit. "Um… Danny. I don't think… I mean, you're really great and all, but—"

"There's someone else isn't there?" He asked me and I'm pretty sure my face was turning redder by the second. "Sorry… I just thought…"

"No, Danny. It's okay. I just yeah…" I swallowed thickly.

"Who is it?" He asked suddenly and I racked my brain. I couldn't tell him about Tate. From knowing Danny, I knew that he didn't like to give up and that he was very persistent. He'd probably try and find him to talk to him a little bit. But since Tate was a ghost and he was in my house, he'd have no chance.

"No one that you know…" I muttered and swallowed, looking down at my hands.

Danny took my chin between his forefinger and thumb and I swallowed thickly. Shit, shit, shit. What if Tate was watching this? He was going to have a fucking fit. He noticed my uneasiness and he dropped his hand from my chin, smiling softly. "I'll see you later, Elouise," he said before turning and walking away.

My heart was practically beating out of my chest. Not for Daniel, but because I could feel eyes boring into me at that moment. I turned and Tate was standing there, an unpleased expression on his face. I knew that he was watching. I could feel it. I knew when he was around always. "Who was that?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"A friend, Tate," I muttered and walked up the stairs to go inside the house. He appeared in front of me in the foyer. I jumped a bit as he stared at me menacingly. I didn't like when he got that look on his face.

"Who was he?" He asked again and I only rolled my eyes walking up the stairs to my bedroom. Tate appeared at the top of the stairs and I maneuvered around him to my room. I sat on my bed and took my shoes off sighing softly. Tate walked in and slammed the door. Thank God my parents weren't home yet because they would be wondering what the hell was going on. "Who the fuck was that?!"

"Why does it matter?!" I shouted back and his eyes narrowed at me, the look sending shivers down my spine.

"Because, he looking at you in a way he shouldn't be looking at you…" He muttered and started pacing around the room, running a hand through his hair as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.

"Why, Tate, are you jealous?" I asked slightly amused.

"Don't fucking talk to me about it," he snapped and he quickly disappeared.

"Tate!" I shouted and groaned, crossing my arms across my chest irritably. "Tate come back!"

Suddenly he appeared right in my face and he pushed back into a wall as he had done before. My breathing hitched a bit and I swallowed hard as I gritted my teeth together. "Do you like him?" He asked and narrowed his eyes some.

"No!" I shouted incredulously and looked deep into his eyes.

"Does he like you?" He said lowly.

"I don't know," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Maybe…" His jaw clenched and unclenched a couple times and he closed his eyes tightly and he took deep and calming breaths. "Why does it matter?"

He started to pace back and forth in front of me and I watched him with careful eyes. "It doesn't," he said and narrowed his eyes some.

"Apparently it does because you're acting like this. You have no right to act like this even!" I said and regretted it the minute that I said it. I bit my lip and closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, Tate was in front of me, both of his hands hitting the wall on either side of my head. He was breathing heavily and I know he was fighting to control himself. I just had to keep telling myself that he wasn't going to hurt me because I knew that he wouldn't knowing how he felt about me. "I have no right to act like this?" He asked roughly. "I have every reason to act like this."

"Tate," I muttered calmly. "We haven't made anything of _this _yet."

"Well, then I'm going to make something of it right now," he muttered. "You're mine and I want you to stay mine. I don't want you hanging out with someone else like... what was his name? Danny?"

I looked at him with wide eyes. "You can't control who I'm friends with, Tate. I'm not going to let you do that to me. And what do you mean by 'you're mine?' What are we Tate? Dating? Having a fling? What?"

He pursed his lips and shook his head. "I don't know."

My jumbled mind was trying to form a coherent thought as I tried to process the situation. "You know what, we just need to take whatever this is slowly. I mean it, okay?" I said to him finally.

His features started to settle some as he took more calming breaths. I sighed in relief as I closed my eyes. I'm pretty sure that I had just dodged a bullet. Apparently I had to tread lightly around Tate until he trusted me more and I trusted that he wouldn't have as many as these outbursts like he has been having. Trust has always been very important to me in relationship.

He pressed his forehead to mine and sighed a small "sorry" his hands resting on my cheeks before sliding over my shoulders and down to my waist. I took a shaky breath and he smiled some as he looked up and into my eyes. He leaned into me and kissed me gently and slowly as he held me close to him.

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><p><strong>So, this Danny character has the hots for Elouise and Tate definitely does not like it. I wonder what will come of this... :) Muahaha. I should have another chapter up sometime tomorrow. Probably late because there is sooooo much going on. Thanks for reading loves! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	11. Cofusion

**Enjoooooy!**

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><p>"Violet, I promise I can look out for… No. Vi, Tate and I… No damn it Elouise think!" I shouted at myself as I paced back and forth in my studio. Violet and I hadn't talked for over a week and I wanted to clear the air with her. Everything was so different now. Tate was around almost all the time and would keep me company when my parents were away. At school, Danny would ask me to go out with him, but I always had to make some stupid excuse as to why I couldn't go. He'd comply and make some joke about it, one being about "my time of the month" and I almost slapped him. Never say that to a girl, ever.<p>

"Violet, I—"

"Elouise stop," Violet's voice rang through the room, cutting me off. I looked over at her and smiled widely. She was looking down at the floor and twisting her fingers together. "Stop trying to figure out what to say to me.

"I'm sorry. I really am. It's just—"

"Stop!" She said a little more sternly. I pursed my lips and watched as she breathed deeply and looked up at me. "I don't care that you and Tate are… Whatever now. I really don't. I just want to warn you about him."

"You've warned me before."

"About being friends with him, but at the rate you two are going, it seems that it's going to be a little more than that. Tate doesn't like to lose things or people he cares about. That's something about him that is actually good. But do you remember how I've told you how irrational he can be. _Especially _about people he cares about?" I nodded my head some. "If he thinks that he's going to lose you—"

"He'll freak out. I know. It's already happened once." Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "It was a stupid little thing that happened. My friend Danny at school, he kind of likes me and he's very persistent. After we had gone out for ice cream one day he asked me out again and Tate apparently saw and he flipped out on me in my bedroom and…" I sighed trailing off remembering the day.

"That's how he is, Ellie. He has these violent outbursts. I don't think that he would ever directly hurt you, but he could end up hurting people that _you _care about to 'protect' you." I wrung my fingers together, thinking of how he could very much hurt Danny if he tried something like he had again. "He could also hurt _you_… on accident."

I pursed my lips together. "I'll be careful with him, Violet," I muttered still in thought.

She nodded. "Sorry I've been MIA for the past few days. I just was trying to figure out what to say and I was talking to Tate myself to make sure he was okay because he's been pissed off recently and I'm not really sure why."

I nodded my head some and looked at her with a smile. "It's fine, really."

She nodded her head and sat on my couch. "So, you and Tate, hm?"

"Oh hush, Violet." I sat next to her and shoved her shoulder a little before reaching for my laptop. Upon opening it up, there was a note there on a word document.

_Tonight at midnight? :) _

I smiled a bit looking at the computer screen, nodding my head before closing out of the document and going onto youtube. This is why Violet and I are friends— besides the fact that she haunts my house basically—we can watch youtube videos for hours, get on the "weird side" and still watch things about how "mermaids are real" or "there's a gnome in my garden." There's some weird shit out there. We once watched 20 videos that were supposed to hypnotize you, none of them actually working. The only thing that they succeeded in was causing me to feel dizzy.

We sat on the couch for hours watching videos until I went down to eat dinner. After dinner, I decided to get some homework done, even though it was Saturday and I sat in the dining room. I felt like someone was in the room with me and when I looked up, Nora sitting there staring at me. "Do you need something?" I asked her and tilted my head to the side.

"You need to help this house Elouise," she said and looked at me seriously. "And all the souls in it. It's why you were brought here."

I cocked an eyebrow at her confusedly. "What are you talking about, Nora?"

"You need to help us and if you refuse… I can't promise that we won't come after you…"

She vanished suddenly and I stood quickly, from the table, looking around quickly. "Elouise, honey?" Mom asked as she walked in. "Who were you talking to?"

I looked at her and then shook my head. "No one…" I muttered. "I just… Couldn't figure out a problem on my homework…" I packed up my stuff. "I'm just going to quit for tonight. I mean, I don't have school tomorrow anyways." I shrugged my shoulders and went up the stairs and into my room. The only thing I could think of doing was patiently waiting for Tate.

I was sitting on my bed and twiddling my fingers some. I hummed lightly and checked my phone for the time. 11:59. Tate was one to be completely on time. He really didn't have to try hard considering he could appear and disappear around the house whenever he wanted. I stared at the small digital clock until it struck midnight and when I looked up Tate was standing in the middle of my bedroom smiling his familiar side smirk at me. "Nora appeared to me," I said immediately

His smile fell and he furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean? She always appears to you," he said and walked over, sitting on the bed next to me.

"But this time it was different. It was more… ominous…" I whispered softly trying to find the right words. I wrung my fingers around some more." She said something about me needing to help everyone in the house. And then she said she didn't know if they could protect me if I refused. I'm assuming 'they' meant you and Violet. What does she mean? How am I supposed to help? I remember Violet mentioning something like this earlier."

He looked at me, his eyebrows still knitted together. "I don't know. I've heard about this before, but no one will tell me anything about all of this," Tate admitted. "She mentioned this before, the night that she first appeared to you, and I tried to ask her why but she didn't answer me. It's like everyone is keeping us in the dark."

"Do you think that Violet would know?" I questioned him.

He shook his head some. "No. Probably not."

"We can try and ask her," I mumbled.

"I'm sure she knows just as much as the two of us," he continued. "I mean, we're your closest friends and so I'm pretty sure that they would keep us in the dark about a lot of things revolving around you…"

I sighed heavily and looked at him some. "Why?" I questioned him. "Why me that is?"

He shook his head then and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he muttered. "I guess they sense something special about you. I mean…" He smirked some. "You are pretty amazing."

I blushed and rolled my eyes some and looked away from him again before going on my phone and reading through some tweets. I sighed softly and Tate stole my phone, looking through my tweets. "Hey!" I shouted, trying to get it back, but he kept it just out of my reach.

He chuckled a bit as he read through some things. "This is funny," he muttered.

I finally grabbed my phone and fell across Tate's waist, smiling in triumph as I clutched the phone against my stomach. He tried to grab it back from me, but I was laying face first on the bed. I was going to try and crawl off the bed, but he laid on me and I groaned. "Stoooop," I whined just a bit but was smiling. He smirked and kissed my cheek gently. I looked over at him and rolled my eyes a bit. "Get off Tate!"

He finally sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. I locked my phone and looked over my shoulder, his eyes trained on me. I stuck my tongue out at him and he chuckled a bit before leaning his forehead against mine. I drifted my eyes close and his nose rubbed against mine a little bit before he brushed his lips against mine gently. "So..." He whispered. "What do you want to do?"

I laughed a bit and opened my eyes to look into his. "You're the one who asked me to meet you at midnight," I told him.

"Yeah, but I wanted to know what you wanted to do." He nudged my shoulder a bit, kissing it gently. "Want to watch a movie?"

"Like what movie?"

He shrugged a bit and laid back, grabbing the laptop and setting it on my lap. I opened it up and went to Netflix and clicked on the first movie that popped up. Tate propped the pillows up behind himself and then laid back on them before pulling me closer and allowing me to lean into his chest. All I could think as we were sitting like that was what if he was alive? Tate just as he was, but just living and not a ghost? Would we go to school together? Would we still be this close to each other? The same went for Violet. It was so strange to think that two of the people that I was closest to were actually dead and I wasn't.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked me suddenly.

I had been staring blankly at the screen with my eyebrows knitted together apparently. "Nothing really," I muttered and tilted my head so I could look at him.

"Are you sure?" He asked me and I nodded at him again before turning my attention back to the movie.

Tate huffed and shut the laptop and I rolled my eyes looking back at him. "Why is it whenever we watch a movie you have to stop it like that? And right at the good part!" I shouted, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well, the last time, I didn't want to hear another word about being in "_a whole new world_" with anyone. This time it's because something is on your mind and you're not talking about it. Again. Talk to me, Elouise. That's why I'm here so you can talk to me and I can try and help you," he said softly and turned me around so I was facing him. He took my hands in his and squeezed them softly.

"It's just... silly. Do you think that if you and Violet were actually alive, this age still and everything, would we still be friends? Do you think that you guys would go to school?" I asked.

"I liked to skip and so did Violet. You're more scholarly than the two of us," he said with a small smirk.

I smiled and rolled my eyes some and he chuckled. "But do you think that we would be friends?"

"Well would we?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"You're... different. Than me and Violet that is. Not just in the sense that you're living and all, but personality wise. You're very smart. Not that I'm not smart and Violet isn't smart, but you have... common sense. You do the right thing. Violet and I, we were outsiders, that's why we got along. You, you have your issues, but you still make friends. I understand where you get upset and all, I think at least. You get overwhelmed and you start panicking. It's like you have very acute anxiety or something... Anyways, sorry that's not what I'm getting at. It would be up to you to decide if you were to be friends with us. If you would talk to us and all of that. I mean, when I was alive I was into some shit. I mean..." He shrugged not wanting to say exactly what. "And Violet was very troubled too."

I nodded some and chewed on my lower lip, thinking of the friends that I had made at school. They knew nothing about my "other life" so to say. They knew I was from Oregon and all that, but I didn't tell them about what had happened there. I didn't confide in them when, like Tate said, I was overwhelmed or anxious or... whatever. I sighed and looked at him. "I think I would be intimidated but make an attempt?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Okay, miss, I-hang-out-with-theatre-kids-and-math-and-science-scholars."

I rolled my eyes and pushed his shoulder. "Can we just watch the movie again?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded before taking the laptop and opening it again.

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><p><strong>Okay, first, sorry it's been so long. School sucks and it's towards the end of the semester so I have like a million things to do. OF COURSE. Anyways, what did you think? Do you like the crypticness from Nora? What do you think all that's about, hm? And why don't Tate and Violet know anything...? HmmmmMMMMMMmmmmMMmMMmmMMM. Sorry. We shall seeeeee. Aha! Thank you for reading as always, loves! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	12. Let Me In

**Enjoy! **

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><p>A couple weeks had passed and they were relatively normal, as usual. Well, as normal as things could get around here. No run ins with Nora or any other spirits telling me that that I was supposed to do something for them. Tate was trying to figure something out, but no one was telling him anything. Violet was trying to as well, but she was running into the same problem. It seemed that a lot of the spirits didn't trust them as much.<p>

It was a Saturday before exams and I was sitting on my front porch studying. It was nice to just get away sometimes. Mom was inside and cooking dinner and dad was in a session with Tate. He was the only patient my dad allowed at the house anymore. He liked to work from home, but he explained how many of his clients were too dangerous to allow in our house. If he actually knew Tate how I knew him, he'd probably make us move.

My parents didn't know about Tate and I. Not yet. My mom had an inkling because we would hang out a lot. On more than one occasion had she given me "the eye," waiting for me to tell her or something I guess. I kept insisting that there was nothing going on. She was my mom, though, and she knew better.

The door opened and when I looked up, Tate was standing there with frown set on his features. Uh oh. "What's wrong?" I asked. He glanced over at me and he started to pace back and forth across the porch, biting on his thumbnail. I almost wished that he would stop going to those sessions with my dad. Maybe he wouldn't get in these moods so often. I huffed as I stood up, taking him by the hand. He turned to me, eyes filled with emotions. "What's. Wrong."

"Nothing," he muttered and ripped his hand out of my grip, causing my eyebrows to furrow some.

"Tate…" I muttered and stepped forward.

"Elouise… No, you know what?" And with that phrase, he disappeared.

I groaned and ran a hand through my hair before stomping back to my books and sitting down, beginning to study again. This was the only thing that bothered me about Tate Langdon. Every time I was upset about something, whether I was infuriated or felt like crying, he forced me to tell him what was wrong, but whenever he was the same way, he wouldn't tell me a damn thing. It honestly wasn't fair to me to have to pour out my feelings to him and he not let his out to me.

I sighed, not being able to focus on studying anymore and placed my head in my hands. I decided to go inside, taking my books with me. I avoided going into the kitchen and went up the stairs to my usual get away, my studio. I went inside and closed the door behind me, locking it so I wouldn't be bothered by my parents. I took out a sketchbook and sat on the floor, taking deep breaths to calm myself. My hand began to shake as I started sketching another abstract piece.

My mind wasn't even focused on the drawing that was slowly coming to life on paper. My mind was revolving around everything else at the moment. School, Danny, finals, my friends, Violet, Nora, and Tate. Of course. There was never a time that I wasn't thinking about him.

I angrily slammed my sketchbook onto the floor after I had finished the drawing and when I took the time to actually look at it, I had to close my eyes again. My dark thoughts that had been being chased away crept in, but I pushed them back again. I wasn't doing anything of the sort again. I didn't want to hurt myself anymore. There were too many people around me who I cared about and who I knew cared about me to allow myself to do that. I took a couple more deep breaths before opening my eyes seeing the source of my anger, sitting on the couch. I rolled my eyes and stood up to walk out of the room, but Tate, being a ghost and all, appeared in front of me. "I'm sorry okay? I was trying not to let my anger out negatively. I mean, I may have thrown a couple of things in the attic, but nothing of importance," he smirked.

"What happened that made you so angry, Tate?" I asked again, hoping he'd finally give me some sort of answer or insight to his otherwise closed off thoughts.

He chewed on his lip. "Don't worry about it, Ellie," he murmured and moved his hand to cup my chin, but I jerked back. "Elouise…" He groaned.

"No. Not until you tell me what's wrong," I said and turned away from him, walking towards the couch. Before I could even get halfway there, though, he had grabbed my arm and pulled me back into him, looking down at me softly. "Let me go."

"Not until you let me kiss you," he smirked as his arms snaked around my waist and held me close to him.

I rolled my eyes and pushed at his chest. "I'm not in the mood, Tate. Let go."

He huffed and did so. I turned and sat on the couch. He began to walk over to me, but noticed the sketchbook laying on the ground. I mentally cursed myself for not putting the thing away. He picked it up, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Is this you?"

"Yeah…" I muttered and looked down at my fingernails, picking at them some

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Tate," I said, keeping it short like he would.

"Then what is this picture all about?" He pressed further.

"It doesn't mean anything, Tate," I snapped looking up from my hands.

"Doesn't mean anything? Ellie, tell me what's going on," he said. With another roll of my eyes, I sat back on my couch causally and continued to pick at my nails. Let's see how he would like getting a taste of his own medicine. "Elouise." He came over and stood in front of me.

I chanced a look up at him and he was still holding the sketchbook in his hand, looking down on me with a slightly worried expression on his face. "Nothing," I muttered and looked away again, but this time just out of the window.

"Tell me what's bothering you," he said again.

"You can't force me to tell you my problems, Tate!" I snapped again.

His jaw clenched and he closed his eyes, realizing what I was doing. "The only reason why I want you to tell me things is so I can help you through them…"

"But you won't let me help you?" I asked, standing in front of him. I only came about to his nose, but I still managed to make myself feel taller as I looked at him in the eyes. "Every time you act this, you just go on a rampage and you won't tell me what's wrong. I think my dad's sessions are making it worse and worse too! I mean really!" I said and threw my hands in the air.

"I don't need help. I'm perfectly fine. I know how to deal with my problems."

"Yeah, totally. By throwing things around. Breaking things. I mean really?"

"Elouise…" His voice sounded warning.

"No, I'm sick and tired of you doing that to me. You come around all pissed off, but you won't tell me anything!" My voice started to raise a bit with each word.

Tate kept his eyes closed tightly and he clenched his fists at his side. "Stop. Yelling," he muttered seriously.

"I'm not yelling. Do you want me to yell?" I questioned him harshly. I might be being irrational, but I was still angry that he wouldn't let me in on what he was feeling. "I just want to help you. I don't want you to think that you can't talk to me about anything. Do you know how useless that makes me feel? All you do is try to help me, but I haven't been able to do anything for you."

"I don't need help. I have my own way of doing things," he answered.

"And maybe _I_ have my own way of doing things," I shot back with a shrug. I went to sit down again, but his hand shot out and he pulled me back into him.

He finally opened his eyes and they were once again swimming with that emotion that he was always trying so hard to hold back. "I just—" He began through gritted teeth. "Your dad is prying. He wants to know why I am how I am. My family, my past, I don't want to talk about it. You and Violet are the only two who I've told. Everyone else has only figured it out." I chewed on my lower lip. "Anyways, if I did talk about any of that, there would be more questions raised and more to talk about and.." he trailed off and just shook his head lightly.

A breath I had been holding escaped through my lips and I looked up at him. "That wasn't so hard, yeah?" I muttered.

He rolled his eyes exasperatedly. "I don't like talking about it, you know that." He let go of my wrist and turned away from me, beginning to pace again.

"But it's better to talk about it than get angry, right?"

He grunted and shrugged his shoulders some before stopping and taking a deep, shaky breath. His fists unclenched and he looked at me. "Sorry," he muttered. I nodded and then looked down. "Why were you so upset at first?"

I chewed on my lower lip and looked back up at him. "Because you wouldn't tell me what was wrong with you," I said with a small shrug.

Tate chuckled a bit and stepped closer to me. "So you allowed yourself to get upset just because I wouldn't tell you what was wrong with me?"

A blush crept across my cheeks as I shrugged lightly smiled lightly. "Oh hush," I muttered and turned away from him.

He continued to chuckle lightly and he moved closer, wrapping his arms around my waist and resting his chin on my shoulder. He placed a feathery light kiss on my cheek and then pressed his nose there gently, a smile still on his lips. "That's what I like about you, Ellie. You allow yourself to feel so much more than most people. You want to make sure that everyone around you is okay." I sighed and relaxed into his embrace as my heart fluttered at his sweet words. "You always put others before yourself."

"I've been through a lot, that's why. I don't like the thought of people going through the same pain that I go through…" I whispered softly, closing my eyes gently.

Tate's grip tightened on me and his thumbs rubbed gentle circles on my stomach. "I wish I could take your pain like you've been taking mine," he whispered.

I swallowed thickly and turned around, throwing my arms around his neck, burying my face there. His arms tightened around my waist as he hugged me even tighter. I took a deep breath as we swayed lightly. "Thank you, Tate…" I muttered against the skin on his neck.

He sighed softly and rubbed gentle circles on my back.

This boy who was so closed off half the time and violent with a terrible, scary past was one of the gentlest people I knew. He cared about the people around him and he had very good intentions. Sometimes he brought them out in the wrong way, though. Tate wasn't like anybody I had ever met before. Maybe that's why I liked him so much. He was a breath of fresh air. He kept me on my toes. He was someone that would care about what I was feeling at all times.

I slowly pulled back and looked up at him with a small smile on my face before placing a small kiss on his jaw. He smiled again and returned the favor with a gentle kiss to my forehead. "What to help me study?" I asked him. "I have exams coming up and then I'm off for a full two weeks."

He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, sure."The two of us sat on the floor and I grabbed my books, sliding them over so they were in front of the two of us. He leaned closer to get a better look. "Psychology and Anatomy?" He said.

"And then I also have British Literature of the nineteenth century," I told him as I slid my last book over. "The rest of the classes I take are art classes, but if art doesn't work out in my life then, I mean, I have to have some sort of back up plan, you know? So, I was thinking about being a nurse of some sort."

Tate rested a hand on my back and nodded lightly. His thumb once again was tracing small circles on my back. "You'd be good at any of that," he said.

I blushed a bit and opened my psych notebook to begin studying once again.

Dinner time had been relatively quiet tonight. My parent seemed to not have much to say and I was guessing they had a lot on their minds, but I wondered what it could be. I looked to them with a raised eyebrow. "Are you two okay?" I asked.

Dad glanced up at me and sat up a little straighter before setting down his fork. He was noticeably mulling over what to say next which did worry me slightly. "What's going on between you and Tate?" He questioned.

This was a question that I had been wanting to avoid for a while. "Nothing," I mumbled, sitting back in my seat and picking at my food now.

"Nothing? Really, Elouise?" He asked. I was quiet as both my parents' eyes stayed set on me. "He's always around and you two seem very close."

"So?" I questioned and looked up to meet his gaze. "I have a friend."

"Who is also one of my patients."

"Does that matter?"

"We just want you to be safe, Elouise," mom chimed in.

"I am safe. Tate wouldn't hurt me," I said in a probably too defensive tone.

"He wouldn't on purpose, but accidentally—"

"What are you talking about? He's not like that," I said cutting off my dad. "Trust me. I know that he seems really… bad at times, but he's not."

"I just don't want you getting hurt, Elouise. This was one of my fears with working from home with patients. A lot of these people have terrible pasts that haunt them and the ones around them," he told me sincerely.

A shiver wracked down my spine. _If only you knew… _I thought to myself. "I'm careful, dad, but really there's no need to be with Tate."

"I hope you're right, Elouise." He continued eating his food and dinner went back to us being silent.

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><p><strong>Finally another update! I'm going to start updating weekly (to the best of my ability) on Tuesdays specifically I think. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you, as always, for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	13. Why I'm Needed

**Enjooooy!**

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><p>Stupid school. Stupid exams. Stupid questions that make no damn sense because I <em>swear <em>we never learned any of this! I sighed and tapped my pen nervously against my desk and someone shushed me. I sent a glare in their direction and rolled my eyes. Stupid bitchy people who don't understand my own personal stress issues. I sighed and just started circling answers after skimming over each question. I sat back and looked at the test that was probably half wrong and then set my pen down and stood. I walked to the front of the room and turned it in before turning back and walking back to my desk to grab my things. I made my way out of my room and sighed in contentment.

Exams were finally over and I was off for Christmas break for two whole weeks. That was probably the best feeling in the world, like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I went to my locker and grabbed my bag before walking out to my car. As I made my way to the car, though, I noticed that a familiar face was standing next to it. "Danny?" I asked and smiled a bit. "How did exams go?"

"Great," he said. "And you?"

"Pretty sure I failed most of them, but that's okay," I said shrugging my shoulders lightly.

He smiled a bit and looked at the ground, glancing back up at me. Oh great, I knew that face. "Listen, Ellie, do you want to go out to lunch with me?" He asked, a hopeful look on his face.

A blush crept across my cheeks. I hated doing this to him. "Danny…" I sighed softly.

"Just… as friends. I promise, nothing more and nothing less, okay?" He said and gave me a sheepish smile.

I sighed and fiddled with my fingers some before nodding. "Yeah, okay," I said smiling. "Where did you have in mind?"

He smirked. "This little pizza place on the boardwalk. It's amazing, I promise," I said and walked around to the passenger side of the car.

We both climbed in. "Are you going to be able to direct me to this place?" I asked, starting the car and buckling myself in. I looked over at him and he nodded. "Okay, good." I pulled out of the parking spot and started to drive away from school. I hummed lightly to the song on the radio and allowed Danny to direct me to this pizza place that we were going to.

Danny and I hadn't been talking as much as we usually had. It was partially my fault because I was always pushing him away, afraid that he would take things the wrong way. I didn't want to have the guilt of leading someone on, but doing something like this, it was harmless right? Just two friends going out to have lunch. At a pizza parlor. On the boardwalk. Shit.

I knew that he said it was a "just friends" occasion, but I couldn't help but think that he was still wanting it to be more than it already was. "Ellie?" Danny asked, ripping me from my train of thoughts.

"Hm, what? Sorry," I said and shook my head looking at him and then looking ahead to the road. We were stopped at a red light.

"You okay?" He questioned.

"I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Really."

His lips pursed together, unsure if he should actually believe me or not. "Okay, well, it's right up the street here," he pointed out and as soon as the light turned green, I pulled into the closest parking spot.

It had been nice to talk with Danny again. He was always so easy to talk to. Lunch had gone well, and he was completely right about the pizza being absolutely amazing. Afterwards he insisted that he pay, no matter how much I protested. He then insisted that he could walk home from my house like he had the last time that we had done something like this. I ended up giving in, because he refused to tell me his address, even though I threatened to just drive around the neighborhood until he told me.

I pulled the car into the driveway of my house and unbuckled my seatbelt. I started to get out of the car, but Danny grabbed my arm and tugged me back to face him. "Ellie, can we talk seriously for a minute?" He asked with slightly wide eyes.

My eyes shifted towards the house and then I relaxed in my seat and looked to Danny. "Okay… What about?" I asked him.

"I really like you, Ellie… I really do," He started to say.

My eyes widened. "Danny, I—"

"No, please just let me finish," he said, cutting me off. I chewed on my bottom lip nervously and looked towards the house. "I know that you have a boyfriend, I know that, but seriously Elouise… who the hell is the guy even? You have no pictures with him, you never bring him around, it's like you're dating a ghost or something. If you could just give me some kind of chance…"

I swallowed thickly and my eyes widened when I saw Tate at the end of the driveway. "Danny, you have to go, please?" I said and pursed my lips together.

"Why, Elouise? Why am I not allowed to talk to you about this?" He wondered aloud.

"Because, she's taken," Tate said from behind him.

I looked up at Tate and he was absolutely pissed off. His jaw and fists were clenched and he eyes looked as if they could burn a hole straight through Danny. "Tate, calm down…" I muttered.

"Oh, so you're the infamous Tate?" Danny asked and turned around to face Tate his face fell as his eyebrows furrowed together. "Tate… Langdon?"

My eyes widened once again as Tate narrowed his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about?" He said through gritted teeth.

"You're Tate Langdon. I did a report on-on mass murders… you're him, but…" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"You must have me fucking confused, Danny—right? Get the hell out of here!" He snapped.

Danny looked to me and then back at Tate. "Why should I?" He snapped and stepped in front of me.

"Danny…" I groaned and tried to step around him. "Just… please go home."

He looked at me and pursed his lips before walking away and out of the gate. Tate looked at me, taking a step closer. "You're not allowed to see him anymore."

"Tate…" I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"No, I fucking mean it, Elouise. You can't see him again. I don't like him. He's trying to take you away from me," He said sternly, his voice trying not to rise any higher.

I rolled my eyes and turned around, stomping up the steps to my house. "You can't control my life, Tate. I'll just talk to him about it!" I said turning around once I had reached the door.

"No!" He disappeared but quickly appeared directly in front of me. I hated when he did that. "Don't you dare."

"Or what, Tate?!" I shouted and turned, flinging open the door and walking inside. I started to walk up the stairs, but Tate appeared again and glared down at me.

"Or I will end up doing something I'll regret…" He muttered darkly, causing shivers to creep down my spine.

"Are you threatening me?" I asked and glared back at him. "Really?" He swallowed and clenched and unclenched his fists. "Why don't you go throw some things around in the attic and then we'll talk."

I moved around him and went the rest of the way up the stairs to my room. I leaned against my closed door as I took a deep breath. "Move on…" Tate muttered. I looked up at him and knitted my eyebrows together. "You're supposed to help us move onto the other side so we're not stuck in this godforsaken house anymore."

I pursed my lips together and narrowed my eyes at him. "How the hell am I supposed to do that?" I asked.

Tate just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but that's what's supposed to happen…" He sat on the bed and put his hands over his eyes.

"What if I don't do it?" I asked him and stepped closer to him.

"Then… all the spirits here will keep you locked in here until you do. No one wants to be in this house anymore. We all want to move on."

"To where?" I asked and furrowed.

"Where do you think, Elouise?" He asked and looked over at me.

I made an "oh" face and wrung my fingers together with a small sigh. "How am I supposed to do that?" I asked softly and stayed standing away from him. He was trying to get my mind off the fight we had just had, but I was still angry with him.

"I don't know…" He muttered and sighed.

I groaned and sat on the floor. "Great…" I muttered.

"I'm sorry about what I said, by the way…" I looked up at him and he was just staring at the ceiling. "It's just… I don't want to lose you. Who knows how much time we have together…"

I looked at him. It would be selfish to say that I didn't want him to go, but I was going to have to do the same thing. I was going to college next year and then what? I would only see him when I was visiting which wouldn't be often, but this was permanent. I wouldn't see him ever again.

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><p><strong>Finally! We know why the spirits need Elouise, but how long will it take for her to help them all? And Will she actually be able to do it? What about her relationship with Tate and her friendship with Violet? All these questions (plus more, aka what's going to happen with Danny hmmm) will be answered very soon (but not too soon haha)! Thank you so much for reading! :) <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	14. Nothing is Right

**So this one kind of made me cringe while writing it towards the end, so just beware. Hope you like this chapter though! It's a bit shorter, but something big happens lalala**

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><p>It was the first day of break but I was as stressed out as ever. With Tate unloading everything that the house was planning, I didn't know what to do. How the hell was I supposed to help these spirits move on? I didn't know how to do anything like that. Before I moved here, I just barely believed in ghosts. Now I'm meant to help them out? And in the process, let's not forget, I'm going to be losing two of the closest people… spirits… whatever, in my life.<p>

Can't my life just go back to being me fighting the urge to never go to school again?

I plopped back on my bed and groaned. Why me? Why did they want me to help? They couldn't have gotten someone else to do this shit? Like what's her name next door, Constance. Well, I guess she wouldn't be much help since she trapped some of the people here. Why can't they move on by themselves?

On top of all of this stuff, Tate and I hadn't spoken since yesterday when he told me all of this. I told him to go and to give me time to think. I was still pissed off at him for trying to tell me that I couldn't hang out with Danny anymore too. And what was even more stressful was that Danny seemed to recognize Tate. That couldn't be good because if he did figure out that Tate really was Tate Langdon, he'd flip. He'd tell everyone that he's still alive or something crazy. I don't know.

I hate being stressed out.

I sat up and closed my eyes, taking deep breaths and trying to center myself without having some kind of panic attack. The bed sunk beside me and I opened my eyes slowly to see Tate. I bit down on my lip and turned in the other direction from him. "I'm still mad at you, you know," I muttered and ran my hand through my hair again.

"I just… I know that was a lot yesterday. And I'm sorry for trying to tell you what to do, but that Danny guy—"

"Is my friend," I shot at him and stood from my bed. "Just like Violet and you are."

He clenched his jaw and closed his eyes. "I came here to help you."

"With what Tate? Help me figure out how to send you all away? Send you and Violet to the 'beyond' or Heaven or whatever? I have no _fucking _clue how to do any of that! And-And I don't fucking want to!" I swallowed thickly and looked at him as I clenched my fists at my sides as well. "I don't want to send you and Violet away. I know I'm being selfish, but you two… you're my friends… I don't, I don't want to lose you…" My voice coming down to a whisper.

Tate looked at me, the anger and annoyance with me being replaced with understanding. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He stood and looked down at me, his eyes suddenly full of different emotions. "I knew this was a damn mistake…" He muttered and shut his eyes again.

My bottom lip quivered and I looked up at him. I bit at the inside of my cheek trying to prevent tears from falling down my cheeks. I had to be strong. I had to. "W-What was a mistake?" I asked, my voice getting choked up a bit and I cursed myself.

"For this, Elouise! For making this happen between us!" He shouted and ran a hand through his hair, starting to pace back and forth.

My mouth fell open at his words as my world began to shatter. I was a mistake. I had been a fucking mistake from the damn beginning. My grief was slowly being taken over by pure rage. I clenched my fists. "I'm a mistake? We're a mistake? I'm glad I finally know your true thoughts, Tate!" I shouted.

His eyes widened as he turned and looked at me. Yeah, I hope realization hit him about what he had just said. "Elouise, I didn't—"

"Mean it like that? I'm sure. Just… Get out of here Tate!"

"Elouise…" He trailed and took a step forward, but I took a step back.

"I said GET OUT!" I shouted.

He jumped a bit and looked as if I actually physically hurt him. He pursed his lips and disappeared. I fell to my knees on my bedroom floor, breaking into sobs. What was happening? Why couldn't I do anything right?

**Tate's POV **

I'm always hurting people even if it's not intentional. I suck. She wanted me to go away and so I did. I should have stayed and consoled her. She was upset, confused, and when I said that this was a mistake, I meant getting too attached to her. I always got attached too quickly with people. Elouise was so different though. Even different from Violet. I don't know what, but she still had innocence left in her. She was gentle when she wanted to be but then could turn on a dime and be harsh and yell at me. I actually liked it. As crazy as that sounded, but it was true. Her nose gets all scrunched up and her eyes blazed because of all the passion she was holding behind them.

I was pacing again. I always paced when I was pissed off or something. It helped me think and not to do something rash. Something from outside caught my eye, though.

That fucking Danny guy. Why the hell was he here? He started walking up the pathway and I narrowed my eyes. No way was she going to talk to him right now. I didn't trust that guy as far as I could probably throw him.

I appeared at the door and opened it. "What are you doing here?" I sneered and he jumped back a bit.

"I wanted to talk to Elouise," he said regaining his composure and narrowing his eyes back at me.

"Sorry, she's busy. Leave her alone," I told him and started to close the door.

He stepped his foot inside it though. "What the hell is your problem? I'm her friend. As much as I'm sure you hate that, you can't do anything about it."

My fists clenched at my sides at his fucking annoying voice. "You need to get the hell out of here before I do something I fucking regret you fucking prick," I spat at him, flinging the door open, making sure it didn't slam against the wall and alert Elouise to what was going on down here.

She was blasting Arctic Monkeys right now so I knew that she wouldn't hear our conversation at least. "Where's Elouise?" He asked again, standing his ground.

"Listen, she's my girlfriend and I'm not going to let someone like you take her away from me, do you understand that? She's _mine._"

"You know, you sound like one of the possessive assholes right now and I'm pretty sure Elouise wouldn't appreciate that."

"You don't fucking know her. Don't you dare act like you know her better than me." I stepped out the door and looked at him through narrowed eyes and I could barely think straight anymore.

"But I do know her. She confides in me and—"

"Confides in you," I scoffed. "Have you fucking held her as she cried? Have you tried to take away every ounce of pain she's feeling but fucking realize you're part of the reason she's fucking upset?! I bet not! Not get the hell out of here!" My voice had raised some.

He was quiet a moment as he pondered over his next choice of words. "Just let me see her for two minutes," he said.

My chest heaved up and down as I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard a bang and a thud and when I opened my eyes all I saw was blood covering the porch, some splattered on my shirt. A pool was beginning to flow around Danny as he laid there dead. I looked up at the culprit and my eyes widened. "What the fuck did you do?" I said.

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><p><strong>Whoops, Danny is dead, but who did it? How do you think that Elouise is going to react to this too? And guess what... HE WAS KILLED ON THE PROPERTY. SOoooooooooooooOOOOOoOOoooOooooOOO. You all know where I'm going with this? dun dun duuuuun. Okay, hope you liked this chapter! Thanks for reading! Remember to review! I love hearing what you think! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	15. You Need to Relax

**Lalala! If you like this story, you should totally comment about it and stuffs ya know? It means I'm more likely to update quicker sometimes. Tell me what you think should happen or maybe just your thoughts on the story! Anything! Anyways, enjoy!**

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><p>Larry stood there with a shovel in his hands that was bloodied now from Danny's blood. "I said, what the fuck did you do?!" I shouted and grabbed him by the shoulders and shaking him harshly.<p>

"He-He would've made her leave! She can't leave not yet! She has to get us to the other side!" Larry said frantically as he dropped the shovel. "I'll take care of it! I will! Just… go talk to Elouise!" He pushed me away and brushed himself off.

"What the hell am I supposed to tell her when Danny appears in the house, Larry? Hm? Did you ever think of that?!" I shouted and shoved him off the stairs. "And what are her parents going to do when they see the blood stain on their porch? Do you ever fucking think?"

"I'll handle it… I'll handle it…" He muttered like it was no big deal.

"You better fucking handle it," I spat and appeared in front of Elouise's room. I took a breath and knocked on the door.

"Go away!" She shouted with her voice choked with sobs.

She was so stubborn, but if she wasn't going to open the damn door then I would just let myself in. I walked through the door and saw Elouise hunched over with her back to the door. "Ellie… Can we please… what are you doing?" I asked and walked over to her.

She looked at me and her face was red, eyes glassy still with tears. I noticed the small box next to her open and empty and I cursed. I walked over in two strides snagging the razor from her. There were three fresh cuts on her arm and I cursed myself. I had caused her to do that. I put the razor in my pocket and tried to pull her off the ground, but she didn't budge. "Leave me alone…" She whispered.

"No…" I muttered and then picked her up. She gasped before getting angry and hitting my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and walked to the bathroom, setting her down on the toilet. "We need to talk."

"Yeah we do…" An annoyingly familiar voice said from behind me.

I pursed my lips and looked at Elouise who had been staring at my shirt and now was looking behind me with wide eyes. "Danny?" She whispered.

I turned and saw him, narrowing my eyes again and clenching my jaw. "Welcome to hell, Danny. I hope you enjoy your stay," I said sarcastically.

"What happened?" Elouise gasped and there were tears in her eyes as she stood and walked over to him.

"I don't know, why don't you ask your damn boyfriend," he said.

"What the hell did you do Tate?!" She shouted at me.

I didn't like this angry her. She was really angry, more than angry actually. It was hateful, the look she was giving me. "Elouise, can we please sit and talk…" I muttered.

"Tell me what you did to him!" She shouted and ran over, punching my chest.

I quickly grabbed her wrists to stop her attack on me. Danny made a move to pull her away, but I shot him a death glare to which he backed off. Elouise had tears streaming down her face as she continued to try and hit at my chest before she just broke down into sobs. I closed my eyes and pulled her into me, rubbing her back. "Please settle down so I can explain…" I murmured in her ear and pressed my nose to her temple.

She bit her lip and looked at me, nodding some before stepping away from me again. I didn't like this coldness she was sending towards me.

I grabbed her a towel and let her wrap it around her cuts before we walked into the bedroom. We had an hour before her parents got home but that would be more than enough time to explain what had happened and to let her cool down afterwards… hopefully.

**Elouise's POV **

Danny… Danny was dead. There was blood on his shirt and a noticeable opening in his head. He would learn to change that I knew from what Tate had told me before. Tate started pacing back and forth. "Okay… Elouise, you have to promise not to freak out… please, baby," Tate muttered as he started to chew on his nail.

Danny leaned against the wall with an exasperated look on his face. "Just tell her what that lunatic did!" He shouted.

Tate shot him a glare and then looked at me sighing heavily. "Danny and I were outside talking—"

"More like he was chewing me out and being a possessive dick…" Danny muttered which earned him another glare from Tate.

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted and then turned back to me. "Larry… One of the spirits. He thought that Danny was going to try and make you leave or something and he killed him… I-I'm sorry Ellie…"

I looked between the two of them. "Is this what happens when these spirits feel threatened? They kill people?" I asked incredulously.

Tate shrugged and looked at the ground. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Tate muttered, running a hand through his hair and taking a deep breath. "I fuck everything up…"

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" Danny said. "Can I like go home? I mean, I think I deserve it after the day I've had…"

I pursed my lips and looked from Tate to Danny and then back to Tate. He pinched his bottom lip between his forefinger and thumb before he shrugged. "You can't leave. Anyone who dies here has to stay here…"

"What?!" Danny shouted and pushed himself off the wall. "What are you talking about."

"It means that you're fucking stuck here. Again, welcome to hell," Tate muttered.

"Would you two stop arguing? You're giving me a damn headache…" I muttered and rubbed my temples.

"Sorry…" They both muttered and then shot each other looks.

The room was finally quiet. My CD had ended somewhere in the midst of the discussion and it was just silent now as I tried to gather my thoughts together. I felt guilty. This was partially my fault I felt like. "I'm going to go find that Larry guy and rip him a damn new one…" Danny muttered, walking towards the door.

"No you're not. Go to the attic or the basement. Her parents are going to be home soon and they can't see you like that. One of the other spirits can teach you how to make yourself look normal," Tate instructed him.

Danny rolled his eyes and was about to walk out when he suddenly stopped he looked at us confused a second. "Are you… Are you one of them… us, too?" He asked Tate.

Tate clenched his jaw. "Yes. I am. I'll explain this to you later, but… can you just leave us the hell alone a minute. You do not want to piss me off anymore. I can make your life a living hell here if I want to," he said darkly.

Danny opened his mouth to say something, but thought twice before walking out of the bedroom. I looked up at Tate, pursing my lips together. "What are we going to do?" I asked.

Tate sat next to me. "We? No… Elouise, I'm going to worry about Danny, okay? I'll fill you in and everything, but I don't want you to worry about anything else okay? You have too much on your plate right now. This is your winter break, you need to relax, okay?"

"But—"

"No," Tate repeated sternly. "I mean it. I don't want to see you upset like this again. I don't want to see you hurting yourself again."

I swallowed hard at his words. I had been doing really well, but everything just came crashing down. I looked up at him and bit my lip lightly. "Tate… When-When you said this was a mistake or whatever—"

"I didn't mean us," he interrupted me softly. "I know it came out that way, but I really didn't mean it in that way at all. I meant… me getting too attached to you. Elouise, I care for you so much that it hurts me to see you hurting. And… knowing that you're upset about me possibly being sent away… I mean… It fucking hurts."

A shaky breath that I had apparently been holding escaped my lips and I leaned my head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"No, you're not allowed to be sorry for anything right now," he muttered and put his arm around me. My skin practically burned at his touch. I had been waiting for this moment since last night. "I'm sorry for being a dick. I need to work on that still I guess."

I hiccupped and laughed a bit before nuzzling into his neck. "Maybe just a little?" I muttered softly.

He only held me closer and he tilted my chin up some. He bit down on his lip before leaning into me. He kissed me softly and his thumb rubbed against my lower back. I kissed him back and let myself practically melt into him. His tongue grazed my bottom lip and I willingly opened my mouth as he let his tongue inside and pressed against mine.

There was a spark between us and I don't care what anyone said, it was something good. Tate wasn't bad. He wouldn't hurt me, not even on accident. I know he wouldn't…

Tate ran his fingers through my hair as we laid there on my bed. I swallowed softly and stared at the wall as my head rested on his chest. Danny was roaming the house. Tate had taught him a couple things to keep himself hidden and to make it look as if he wasn't hurt so we could hang out in front of my parents. Violet had stopped by as well and we told her everything that had happened with Danny. She said she would keep an eye on him and maybe keep him company as well.

Today had been eventful and disturbing to say the least. I couldn't even get to sleep. My mind kept racing and replaying everything. Seeing Danny the way I had… what was going to come of this? He wouldn't be at school, I'm sure everyone would have questions. What about his family? They would come looking for him wouldn't they?

"Still not asleep?" Tate asked me softly as he pulled my closer, continuing to twirl my hair in his fingers.

I shook my head and bit down on my lip. "No, I can't stop thinking about today," I muttered and looked up at him. "Pretty crazy start to my winter break…" I muttered and sighed heavily.

"I know, baby, and I'm sorry this all happened like this. This is your time to relax before you have to go back to school and everything," he said to me and then moved his hand down to my shoulder, rubbing his thumb against it gently. He pressed his lips against my temple and sighed.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to relax," I told him.

"You can at least try," he murmured and kissed my cheek with a smile.

"It's not that easy, Tate. There's so much that I have to worry about now," I said and sat up quickly. "I mean, there's the fact that Danny's dead and I have to worry about someone finding out about that somehow, and then I have to help you all move on, before the New Year, right? And-And… I don't want to have to do that, Tate!"

Tears came to my eyes and I pursed my lips together. Tate sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist quickly. "Shh… Baby, I'm sorry…" He whispered. "It doesn't have to be at New Year's but… That's what's ideal for most of the ghosts here, you know?" He kissed my shoulder. "Please don't cry."

"I'm not going to cry…" I whispered and rubbed my eyes some.

"Mmhm…" He whispered and nudged my jaw with his nose. "Look at me, Ellie." I kept rubbing my eyes and couldn't do it. "Hey…" He gently turned my head so I was facing him. "It's going to be okay?" He pecked my lips gently and rested his forehead against mine.

"I'm sorry… I just…" I sighed shakily and swallowed gently.

"Stop apologizing, Elouise," he whispered and kissed me gently again, resting his hand against my cheek softly.

"I'm going to miss this…" I whispered against his lips.

"Shh…" He muttered against them and kept kissing me. He shifted so I was on top of him and he held my waist. My hair fell over my shoulder and onto his. He pulled back gently and tucked it behind my ear and looked up at me. "I'll always be here for you. No matter what, okay?"

I nodded softly and sniffled a bit. "Okay…"

"Good…" He whispered and smiled at me gently before pulling me in to kiss again. His hand went back to my waist and then both traveled just a little lower to my hips. He squeezed there gently as he ran his tongue across my bottom lip. I opened my mouth for him and the kiss deepened as we let out tongues swirl together. I gasped softly as he flipped the both of us so that he was on top of me and pinning my hands above my head. I looked up at him softly and bit down on my lower lip as he stared down at me. His eyes were darker than they usually were and his facial features were set in a serious expression.

"Tate?" I whispered softly as my eyes searched his face. My heart rate had quickened at the sight of him.

"Yeah, Ellie?" He asked as his hands slid down my arms to my shoulders, his thumbs rubbing against the skin there again. He leaned down and kissed right below my earlobe. "Is this okay?"

I struggled for a minute to catch my breath, but I slowly nodded in response as he continued his tender actions. My eyes fluttered close as he gently nibbled at the skin on my neck. I hummed softly as he repeated that in another area. I felt his smile against my skin and his hands slowly made their way down my torso to the edge of my shirt. My breathing hitched as he pushed it up some. "Ellie, have you ever had sex before?" He asked me bluntly.

His words made my cheeks flush and I chewed on my lip lightly. "N-No..." I said to him.

He smiled and he began to kiss at my collarbones as he slowly pushed my shirt further up so the end up it came right under my breasts. "Are you okay?" He asked and looked at me, searching my expression for any type of uncertainty, which it was probably loaded with.

"I-I don't know..." I muttered again.

"I was just curious, Ellie. It doesn't have to be tonight. Or ever if you don't want that. I'm flexible," he said softly and kissed me again before rolling off of me and pulling me into his side.

I was still blushing, my body was buzzing from all his simple actions. My shirt was still hitched up some and he gently ran his finger over my spine. "Do you feel anymore relaxed than you did before?" He asked as he kissed the top of my head.

A smile spread across my face and I looked up at him softly before laughing lightly and cuddling into him more.

What was he doing to me?

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><p><strong>I have bee dying to write a heated scene like that for a while now and that's not all. More to come! Um, by the way, this story might turn M later on, just a heads up for you all. I'M NOT FOR SURE YET. NO ONE GET THEIR KNICKERS IN A BUNCH OR THEIR HOPES UP but it is a possibility! (It almost did turn M, but I figured I'd hold off to see what you all think!) Speaking of knowing what you all think... You all should comment more like I said above. If I can get to at least 28 comments by Friday, there could very well be a double update coming up for you readers out there! BUT YOU HAVE TO COMMENT. And following and liking it would be nice too! <strong>

**As always, loves, thank you so so much for reading! **

**xxKellyn **


	16. An Easy Solution

**Wow, it's been a while hasn't it... Enjoy! **

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><p>Tate ran his fingers through my hair as we laid there on my bed. I swallowed softly and stared at the wall as my head rested on his chest. Danny was roaming the house. Tate had taught him a couple things to keep himself hidden and to make it look as if he wasn't hurt so we could hang out in front of my parents. Violet had stopped by as well and we told her everything that had happened with Danny. She said she would keep an eye on him and maybe keep him company as well.<p>

Today had been eventful and disturbing to say the least. I couldn't even get to sleep. My mind kept racing and replaying everything. Seeing Danny the way I had… what was going to come of this? He wouldn't be at school, I'm sure everyone would have questions. What about his family? They would come looking for him wouldn't they?

"Still not asleep?" Tate asked me softly as he pulled me closer, continuing to twirl my hair in his fingers.

I shook my head and bit down on my lip. "No, I can't stop thinking about today," I muttered and looked up at him. "Pretty crazy start to my winter break…" I muttered and sighed heavily.

"I know, baby, and I'm sorry this all happened like this. This is your time to relax before you have to go back to school and everything," he said to me and then moved his hand down to my shoulder, rubbing his thumb against it gently. He pressed his lips against my temple and sighed.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to relax," I told him.

"You can at least try," he murmured and kissed my cheek with a smile.

"It's not that easy, Tate. There's so much that I have to worry about now," I said and sat up quickly. "I mean, there's the fact that Danny's dead and I have to worry about someone finding out about that somehow, and then I have to help you all move on, before the New Year, right? And-And… I don't want to have to do that, Tate!"

Tears came to my eyes and I pursed my lips together. Tate sat up and wrapped his arms around my waist quickly. "Shh… Baby, I'm sorry…" He whispered. "It doesn't have to be at New Year's but… That's what's ideal for most of the ghosts here, you know?" He kissed my shoulder. "Please don't cry."

"I'm not going to cry…" I whispered and rubbed my eyes some.

"Mmhm…" He whispered and nudged my jaw with his nose. "Look at me, Ellie." I kept rubbing my eyes and couldn't do it. "Hey…" He gently turned my head so I was facing him. "It's going to be okay?" He pecked my lips gently and rested his forehead against mine.

"I'm sorry… I just…" I sighed shakily and swallowed gently.

"Stop apologizing, Elouise," he whispered and kissed me gently again, resting his hand against my cheek softly.

"I'm going to miss this…" I whispered against his lips.

"Shh…" He muttered against them and kept kissing me. He shifted so I was on top of him and he held my waist. My hair fell over my shoulder and onto his. He pulled back gently and tucked it behind my ear and looked up at him. "I'll always be here for you. No matter what, okay?"

I nodded softly and sniffled a bit. "Okay…"

"Good…" He whispered and smiled at me gently before pulling me in to kiss again. "And I don't want to leave you yet anyways, Elouise. There's too much I'm going to miss out on."

"But I don't want to keep you here when you're not completely happy," I whispered to him.

"I am happy Elouise. Finally, again, I'm happy. You make me happy," he whispered to me and I couldn't help but blush a little at his words.

"Do you really mean that, Tate? Or are you just saying that?" I asked.

His lips pressed together before he chuckled, smiling down at me softly. "I really mean that, Ellie," he whispered, pecking my lips.

A small smile spread across my lips again and I sighed. "We should probably figure out how I'm supposed to help everyone move on, though. It's not like there's some guide to it, right?" I said, propping myself up some.

He sat up as well, straddling my hips still. He scratched the back of his head and thought a minute. "Yeah… I mean, there's people out there who do know how to do that kind of stuff. I mean have you seen the TV shows? Like they exorcise houses or use that sage stuff."

"I thought those were for bad spirits or demons or something," I said, playing with the end of his shirt.

He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his thumb against my waist. "I mean, I don't know for sure. It's just a suggestion. Just do some researching stuff. You're good at that." I looked up at him and he was smiling back down at me.

"That's a good idea," I said and reached over the edge of my bed, grabbing my lap top. Tate climbed off of me and sat by my side as I pulled the laptop onto my lap and started it up. He wrapped an arm around my waist and leaned in as I typed in "how to help spirits move on." Surprisingly, there were a bunch of websites that popped up.

I clicked on the first one and there were a bunch of different options, some of them sounding a little scarier than others. There were even some suggestions of people to call. I figured I had to do this on my own because if there was a random person walking around my house, my parents were bound to get suspicious. I didn't need them asking any questions. They already thought that I was a bit out of my mind, I didn't need to give them another reason to think that. "This sounds easy enough," I muttered reading through one of the suggestions. "All I need to do is talk to the spirits and convince them to move on. And, if they don't want that, then I just pray for St. Michael to "escort" them," I told Tate. "Nothing scary or anything. I think this could work. Most of the spirits here respect me, right?"

Tate shrugged. "Yeah. They just want your help," he said, resting a hand on mine.

I smiled and then sighed softly. "But… What if they don't listen or what if it doesn't work because the house?" I asked, looking at him.

"Honestly, I don't know then," he said softly. "It's probably not going to be the easiest thing for most of them. They might fight you a bit."

"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"I'll be right there," he reassured me.

"I know you will," I whispered back to him and pecked his cheek gently.

The only problem was that how was I going to help _him_ move on?

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><p><strong>So, this is the beginning of the end my loves! There's going to be a few more chapters and then I think an Epilogue! I love this fanfic a lot and as always, thank you so much for reading it! <strong>

**xxKellyn**


	17. The First Goodbye

**:)**

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><p>My room was quiet as I did some last minute online shopping for Christmas. I had gotten both of my parents their presents, but I still needed to get some of my friends things. I had even gotten a couple of things for Tate and Violet. I had already had Danny's present which I think that he was going to like a lot. I sighed, giving up, not being able to find anything. I was going to have to go out to go shopping for real. My friends could be so hard to buy for. I leaned back on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. It was four days until Christmas which was exciting. Yeah, last minute online shopping probably wasn't my best idea anyways. It would never get here in time.<p>

"Hey!" Violet said, appearing over me.

I gasped, shooting up in bed and placing a hand over my heart to show how bad she had scared me. "Holy crap!" Violet had fallen into a fit of laughter. "Don't do that!" I scolded, but soon started to laugh with her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself," she said and wiped the tears that had come out from under her eyes before sitting on the bed with me. "So… about a week and a half, right? Until all of us spirits are supposed to be out of this house…"

I pursed my lips, the wall of my room suddenly becoming so interesting at the moment. "I don't really want to talk about it," I muttered, shifting my gaze to my hands and fiddling with my fingers some.

Violet chewed on her bottom lip lightly and then rested a hand over mine. "I don't either… What if we just… Didn't go?" She asked. "I don't want to leave and Tate doesn't either. Danny has been pretty adamant about staying as well."

"But I can't do that to you guys," I said. "You deserve something better than being stuck in this house for the rest of your lives. I'm not going to be here forever. My parents probably won't be here forever. I just… I can't do that to you."

"But it'll give us more time!" Violet said.

"Yeah, a few months, that's about it. I'm going away to college next year. Hopefully at least. There's a bunch of great art schools here and I want to be a part of that," I explained.

"I understand, but you'll visit a lot, so it wouldn't be so bad. We'd be able to see each other still. This just sucks." She fell back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"You won't think it sucks when you're in a much better place than this hellhole of a house, Violet."

"I know, I know," she muttered. "So… when are you planning on starting all of this"

"As soon as I can because everyone wants to be out of here by New Year. I just hope that they'll listen to me and do what I tell them or else we're all going to be in for a rude awakening," I told her.

She nodded. "I'll listen, but… let me be the last one you send away, okay?" She asked. "Or at least the second to last because I'm guessing you want as much time with Tate as you can get."

I pursed my lips into a thin line, thinking about going on without them. "This is going to suck."

She nodded her head and sat up, giving me a tight hug. "Life sucks sometimes."

"You've got that right…" I muttered as tears started to build up in my eyes. I quickly wiped at them. "Want to watch some videos?"

"Sure," she said and smiled some.

That night I was curled up in bed by myself while listening to music. Music allowed me to unwind and forget what was actually happening around me which was nice because I didn't want to believe that three of my friends were going to be gone forever. I hated this feeling. As I started to drift to sleep, I felt arms wrap around my waist and I smiled, turning over and expecting to see Tate, but instead Danny was laying there with a lazy smile on his face. "Danny!" I whisper-yelled, knowing my parents were asleep and if Tate heard me he'd be in here in a second. I sat up immediately and ripped my earphones out of my ears before looking at him with a "what the fuck" look.

"Sorry," he said with a slight chuckle before sitting up. He ruffled a hand through his hair and sighed. "So word is, this is it."

"What?" I asked.

"We're going to the beyond, Heaven, the other side, or whatever…" he muttered.

"Oh, uh, yeah," I said softly. "Yeah you are."

"Oh," he muttered and chewed on his lip. "Listen, Ellie, I don't know when I'll get another chance to tell you this. Tate is dealing with something, so I figured I didn't have to worry about him. Please just hear me out, okay?"

"What do you mean he's dealing with something?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. By the look on Danny's face I figured he wasn't going to tell me. "What is it, Danny?"

"I like you—"

"Danny," I groaned, cutting him off.

"No! Listen! I like you a lot, Elouise. You were one person that I could talk to and have fun with. I didn't mean to hurt you in anyway if I did. I didn't want this to happen and I'm sorry for not listening to you…" He said sincerely. "I just wanted us to part on a good note."

I smiled softly at him. "Thank you, Danny and it's okay. I'm sorry that this happened to you."

"It's fine. It was going to happen sooner or later right?" He said, scratching the back of his neck with a slight chuckle.

"It's going to happen to all of us…" I muttered. "What about your parents?"

"I don't have any parents, Elouise. I have lived on my own for a long time now," he said and my mouth dropped open.

"What? How?"

"The minute I turned 18 I ran away from my aunt and uncle's house. They didn't even care. They hated me, saying that I was a bad kid and shit. Then I came here, to LA, to start a new life. I wanted to finish out high school. I live—well lived—down the street in a crappy apartment complex. That's why I never wanted you to drive me there," he smiled. "I didn't want you to think I was nothing."

"Danny, I don't think that of anyone," I told him and leaned over, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry, Danny," I whispered again.

"It's fine. I'm fine…" He whispered. "Thank you for everything Elouise."

I pulled back and looked at him. He had a warm smile on his face and he was fading away. "Danny?" I asked, tears springing to my eyes.

"I guess you really did help me, Ellie. I'll always remember you. Hell, one day we'll be up here together!" He looked up and grew harder and harder to see. "It's warm, not cold like in here. It's beautiful." He looked to me again. "Thank you Ellie."

Those were the last words that I heard from Danny and I would never forget them.

I couldn't sleep. Dany was gone, like, really gone this time. I had been crying for two hours. I wasn't going to see him ever again. I'm just glad that he was happy when he left and I'm glad that he was somewhere so much better. He didn't deserve to be stuck in this house. No one did. Another sob escaped my lips as I curled tighter ito a ball, holding my knees to my chest. "Elouise?" Tate's voice floated through the room. I sat up and he was sitting on the edge of my bed, looking at me concerned. I practically fell into his chest, sobbing again. "Ellie, what's wrong?" He asked, threading his fingers through my hair.

I couldn't find my words yet. Tate just held me close as I continued to cry. He whispered soft, sweet words in my ear and rocked me back and forth. When I finally started to settle down, I looked up at him and looked at me, still with that look of concern etching his features. "He's gone," I choked out, sniffling still. My head was pounding and I know my face was stained and red from all the crying that I had been doing.

"Who?" He asked cofused.

"D-Danny…" I whispered, trying to hold bck more of my tears. "He moved on. I-I don't know how. We were just talking, but…" I trailed off, wiping at my eyes. "He's gone…"

"I'm sorry, Elouise," he whispered and pulled me into a tighter hug. "He's going to be okay."

"I know," I sniffled. "it's just that, he's gone."

Tate was quiet as he rubbed my back gently and sighed softly. "It's going to be okay."

His words ping ponged back and forth in my head and I gently pushed away from him. "No it's not," I retorted. "_Nothing _is going to be okay. You're going to be gone, Violet is going to be gone. The closest people to me are just going to disappear right in front of me and… I don't know how I'm going to deal with this!" I stood, beginning to pace back and forth. My chest was rising and falling quickly as I shook and ran a hand through my hair. "I can't do this, Tate, I really can't. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to lose my mind. Losing Danny for good is making me lose my mind and if Violet goes and then-then you! Out of all people you!" I shook out my hands as I continued to pace and breathe heavily. This wasn't fair. This wasn't fair at all. "I can't breathe…" I stopped where I was and just stood there, shaking, crying, breathing heavily.

Tate quickly jumped up and cupped my face in my hands, making me look at him. He wiped away any tears that were on my face and just looked at me. He looked just as vulnerable as I did at this point. "Elouise, it's going to be fine. I'm not going to leave you. I won't ever leave you," he said to me.

"But, Tate—"

"No," he said quickly cutting me off. "I don't want you to be hurt. You mean everything to me. I'm not going to let you feel this way."

"I can't do that to you, Tate," I whispered and looked away from him.

"Look at me, Elouise." I did slowly. "I love you."

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><p><strong>Yup, I'm just going to leave this here. Let me know what you think. :) Thanks for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


	18. Act of Love

**AAAHHH I hope you like this chapter as much as I like this chapter :) **

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><p><em>I love you<em>. Those words played in my head. _I love you._ He actually said those three words, the ones that everyone wanted to hear from someone. My heart melted and I felt tears in my eyes again. I looked at him and he at me. He looked like he was waiting for something and that's when it dawned on me. "Tate," I smiled a little bit and laughed some. "I love you too."

He smiled and laughed a little before leaning in and pressing his lips to mine in loving way. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me even closer to him and my hands went to drape around his neck. We stayed like that for a few minutes before he pulled away and looked at me again. "I love you," he said again with a wide smile.

"I love you," I said back.

We both laughed a little and I rested my head on his shoulder, sighing and closing my eyes. We swayed where we stood and then he picked me up and took me over to the bed. He laid me down and leaned over me like he had done the other night. He smiled softly at me and caressed my cheek. "I love you so much…" He repeated again, sending my heart fluttering.

I blushed and bit down on my lip some. "I love you too, Tate, more than life itself."

He leaned down and kissed me gently again. My heart fluttered lightly and I kissed him back with a smile. His hands rested on my hips and rubbed them gently while I placed my hands against his chest and gripped his shirt. I slowly moved my hands down his chest and to his stomach before trailing them back up his shirt and rubbing his bare skin. He hummed gently against my lips and pulled back slowly before smiling softly down at me. "Are you sure?" he asked me gently. I couldn't find my words and I just nodded.

He sat up and gripped the bottom of his shirt. "Don't... be scared..." he whispered to me before pulling it over his head. His chest and stomach were littered with scars. Bullet holes.

I swallowed pass the lump that had formed in my throat. "Tate..." I whispered. "I thought..."

"I keep the scars there to remind myself who I am and all the bad that I had done. It was... to keep me in check... For the most part anyways," he said softly and caressed the side of my face again. "To remind myself that I could still be good..."

"You are good, Tate," I whispered to him.

He smirked and looked down. "I'm glad you think so," he whispered before he leaned down and kissed me slowly again.

His hands slowly traveled under and up my shirt. He disconnected our lips for only a moment to get the shirt over my head and then leaned back down and kissed me again. I moved my hands to the nape of his neck and gripped the hair there. He slowly kissed down my neck, whispering "I love you" between each kiss. My hands shook some as he moved down my body, kissing between my breasts and down my stomach. "Do you trust me?" He asked, nudging my abdomen gently and looking up at me.

"O-Of course I do," I whispered while nodding my head.

"Then relax, baby."

As I came down from my high, I breathed heavily, gripping onto Tate's bare shoulders. He hummed gently and placed loving, feather-light kisses along my collarbones over the bruises that now littered it from our intimate moment we had just shared. His neck was riddled with them as well. He practically collapsed next to me and brought me close into his chest, brushing his fingers through my hair. "Are you okay?" He asked gently, before kissing my forehead.

"Fine..." I breathed out and placed a kiss on his chest.

"Did it hurt?" He asked. "Don't lie to me."

"A-A little bit..." I whispered, still feeling the slight sting.

"I'm sorry, Ellie..." He whispered and held me closer, kissing the top of my head gently. "I love you."

"Don't be sorry..." I whispered and looked up at him. "I'm okay."

He smiled at me and pecked my lips. "I love you, Ellie," he repeated.

"I love you too," I responded and pecked his lips back.

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><p><strong>Heehee, aren't they cute? I think they're cute. Okay bye. :) Thanks for reading! <strong>

**xxKellyn **


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